Hip resurfacing drill guide device

1. A device for guiding a drilling of a femoral head of a femur in femoral head resurfacing comprising:

a body, the body defining at least one guide channel adapted to receive and guide a drilling component therein, the at least one guide channel having a concentric guide direction;

arms pivotally connected to the body and biased toward one another about pivot axes being transverse to the concentric guide direction, the arms each having a contact end extending below the body, the contact ends adapted to contact a femoral neck when the body is in a hovering position relative to the femoral head;

at least one sensor producing a signal indicative of an orientation angle of each of the arms relative to the body;

a processor unit for calculating the orientation angles of the arms from the signal, and for evaluating from the orientation angles an alignment of the body relative to the femur; and

a visual output producing a visual signal representative of said alignment.

2. The device according to claim 1 , wherein each of said arms has a straight portion connected to the body by a pivot, a curved portion adapted to be opposite the femoral head in the hovering position of the body, and wherein the contact ends of the arm are at an end of the curved portion.

3. The device according to claim 1 , comprising 4, 6 or 8 of the arms.

4. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the contact ends of the arms each comprise a curved contact surface.

5. The device according to claim 1 , wherein grooves are defined in an outer surface of the body, the arms being each received in one of the grooves, the grooves constraining the movement of the arms to a single rotational degree of freedom of movement relative to the body.

6. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the body has an outer shell defining an inner cavity, and an inner body housing fixedly received in the inner cavity of the outer shell.

7. The device according to claim 6 , wherein the processor unit and the visual output are mounted onto the inner body housing.

8. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising a pin shaft received in an inner cavity of the body, the pin shaft defining the at least one guide channel.

9. The device according to claim 8 , wherein the pin shaft is removably received in the body, complementary engagement means being provided between the pin shaft and the body to adjust an orientation of the pin shaft to a plurality of predetermined orientations.

10. The device according to claim 9 , wherein the complementary engagement means are spline-like connectors projecting radially from the pin shaft, and complementary seats defined in the body.

11. The device according to claim 9 , wherein the pin shaft has a visual marker thereon to assist in orienting the pin shaft in the body.

12. The device according to claim 1 , wherein at least one guide channel is at least one of concentric with a longitudinal axis of the body, at an offset angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the body, and parallel and offset from the longitudinal axis of the body.

13. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the visual output comprises a LED unit associated with each of the contact arms, the LED unit producing a red light for misalignment and a green light for alignment.

14. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor unit evaluates the body as correctly aligned when each said arm of diametrically opposed pairs are at a same orientation angle relative to the body.

15. A method for aligning a drill guide device on a femur for subsequent drilling a femoral head with a guide channel in the drill guide device, the guide channel having a concentric guide direction, the method comprising:

positioning a body of the guide device in a hovering position above a femoral head by passing arms of the guide device over the femoral head to a biased grasping engagement with the femoral neck; and

displacing the body in the hovering position until each of the arms is at a desired orientation angle transversely to the concentric guide direction of the guide device such that said arms of diametrically opposed pairs are at a same orientation angle relative to the body, based on an output provided by the guide device.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein positioning the body comprises abutting a bottom of the body against the femoral head.

17. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising inserting a pin shaft in an inner cavity of the body at a desired orientation based on a visual alignment of the pin shaft with a landmark of the femur, the pin shaft including the guide channel.

18. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising drilling the femoral head using the guide channel when the arms are at the desired orientation angle.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein drilling the femoral head comprises drilling a guide wire into position in the femoral head.

20. A method for aligning a drill guide device on a femur for subsequent drilling a femoral head with a guide channel in the drill guide device, the guide channel having a concentric guide direction, the method comprising:

positioning a body of the guide device in a hovering position above a femoral head by passing arms of the guide device over the femoral head to a biased grasping engagement with the femoral neck and by abutting a bottom of the body against the femoral head; and

displacing the body in the hovering position until each of the arms is at a desired orientation angle transversely to the concentric guide direction of the guide device, based on an output provided by the guide device.

21. The method according to claim 20 , further comprising inserting a pin shaft in an inner cavity of the body at a desired orientation based on a visual alignment of the pin shaft with a landmark of the femur, the pin shaft including the guide channel.

22. The method according to claim 20 , further comprising drilling the femoral head using the guide channel when the arms are at the desired orientation angle.

23. The method according to claim 22 , wherein drilling the femoral head comprises drilling a guide wire into position in the femoral head.

24. A method for aligning a drill guide device on a femur for subsequent drilling a femoral head with a guide channel in the drill guide device, the guide channel having a concentric guide direction, the method comprising:

positioning a body of the guide device in a hovering position above a femoral head by passing arms of the guide device over the femoral head to a biased grasping engagement with the femoral neck, including inserting a pin shaft in an inner cavity of the body at a desired orientation based on a visual alignment of the pin shaft with a landmark of the femur, the pin shaft including the guide channel; and

displacing the body in the hovering position until each of the arms is at a desired orientation angle transversely to the concentric guide direction of the guide device, based on an output provided by the guide device.

25. The method according to claim 24 , further comprising drilling the femoral head using the guide channel when the arms are at the desired orientation angle.

26. The method according to claim 25 , wherein drilling the femoral head comprises drilling a guide wire into position in the femoral head.