Hip-joint prosthesis

1. A method of optimizing the geometry of a femoral stem of a hip joint prosthesis, the femoral stem comprising

a neck; and

an anchoring blade that is attached to the neck and that tapers towards a distal end with a lateral narrow side comprising a distal straight portion and a proximal arcuate portion corresponding to a curve, a transition between the distal straight portion and said proximal arcuate portion occurring at an outer lateral point; and

said method comprising optimizing the profile of the curve of said proximal arcuate portion by a process of iterative modeling steps using a series of curves each defined by a path traced by the outer lateral point of the blade on withdrawal of a profile of the stem from a cavity of complementary shape to the stem.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the outer lateral point coincides with a lateral metaphyseal point.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein during withdrawal of the profile of the stem from the cavity contact between lateral-distal and proximal-medial stem contours and respective associated boundaries of the cavity are maintained.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein in a first iterative step a first curve is defined by a path traced by the outer lateral point passing to the medial side of an arbitrarily selected proximal point on a part of the blade adjacent the neck on withdrawal of a profile of the stem from the cavity of complementary shape to the stem while contact between lateral-distal and proximal-medial stem contours and respective associated boundaries of the cavity are maintained, and that curve is used as the profile of the proximal arcuate portion of the stem in a next iterative step.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein in a plurality of further iterative steps the curve defined in the preceding iterative step is used as the profile of the proximal arcuate portion of the stem, and a new curve is then defined by the path traced by the outer lateral point on withdrawal of the stem with this profile from the original cavity while contact between lateral-distal and proximal-medial stem contours and respective associated boundaries of the cavity are maintained.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the new curve defined by the path traced by the outer lateral point in the final iterative step is adopted as the profile of the proximal arcuate portion of the anchoring blade of the femoral stem.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least five iterative steps are carried out to determine the profile of the proximal curve of said proximal arcuate portion of the prosthesis stem.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least seven iterative steps are carried out to determine the profile of the proximal curve of said proximal arcuate portion of the prosthesis stem.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the distal straight portion of the blade extends over a length of from 60% to 75% inclusive of the total length of the femoral stem.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the cross-sectional profile of the blade is selected from the group consisting of rectangular, trapezoidal and rhombic.

11. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the blade tapers with a taper angle of from 0.5° to 6°.

12. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the blade tapers with a taper angle of from 1° to 3°.

13. A method of optimizing the geometry of a femoral stem of a hip joint prosthesis, the femoral stem comprising

a neck; and

an anchoring blade that is attached to the neck and that tapers towards a distal end with a lateral narrow side comprising a distal straight portion and a proximal arcuate portion corresponding to a curve, a transition between the distal straight portion and said proximal arcuate portion occurring at an outer lateral point; and

said method comprising optimizing the profile of the curve of said proximal arcuate portion by a process of iterative modeling steps using a series of curves each defined by a path traced by the outer lateral point of the blade on withdrawal of a profile of the stem from a cavity of complementary shape to the stem;

wherein the outer lateral point coincides with a lateral metaphyseal point; and

wherein during withdrawal of the profile of the stem from the cavity contact between lateral-distal and proximal-medial stem contours and respective associated boundaries of the cavity are maintained.

14. A method of optimizing the geometry of a femoral stem of a hip joint prosthesis, the femoral stem comprising

a neck; and

an anchoring blade that is attached to the neck and that tapers towards a distal end with a lateral narrow side comprising a distal straight portion and a proximal arcuate portion corresponding to a curve, a transition between the distal straight portion and said proximal arcuate portion occurring at an outer lateral point; and

said method comprising a means of optimizing the profile of the curve of said proximal arcuate portion by a process of iterative modeling steps using a series of curves each defined by a path traced by the outer lateral point of the blade on withdrawal of a profile of the stem from a cavity of complementary shape to the stem.

15. A method as claimed in claim 14 , wherein in a first iterative step a first curve is defined by a path traced by the outer lateral point passing to the medial side of an arbitrarily selected proximal point on a part of the blade adjacent the neck on withdrawal of a profile of the stem from the cavity of complementary shape to the stem while contact between lateral-distal and proximal-medial stem contours and respective associated boundaries of the cavity are maintained, and that curve is used as the profile of the proximal arcuate portion of the stem in a next iterative step.