Granted Patent B2

US 12,376,868 · App. 18/123,848 · Granted Aug 5, 2025

Inventors: Emily Gogarty (Montreal, CA); Jean-Sebastien Merette (Mont-St-Hiliare, CA); Benoit Pelletier (Laval, CA); Suntara Ly (Longueuil, CA); Emmanuelle Bouvier (Val-David, CA); Adam H. Sanford (Minneapolis, MN); Jess H. Lonner (Philadelphia, PA)

A61B17/1764A61B17/1721A61B34/20A61B34/30A61B90/37A61B90/50A61B17/1675A61B2017/564

Abstract

Claims (38)

1. A method of positioning a posterior resection guide in a three-dimensional coordinate system using a robotic arm in order to perform a partial knee arthroplasty, the method comprising:

connecting a first tracking device for a surgical tracking system of the robotic arm to a femur;

connecting a second tracking device for the surgical tracking system of the robotic arm to a tibia;

manually positioning the tibia relative to the femur to a desired orientation to perform a posterior resection;

manually determining a position for the posterior resection guide to perform the posterior resection;

digitizing a reference point for the posterior resection guide in the three-dimensional coordinate system for a location of a feature of the posterior resection guide;

moving the posterior resection guide to the location in the three-dimensional coordinate system with the robotic arm; and

resecting a posterior portion of a condyle of the femur using the posterior resection guide to guide a cutting instrument.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein digitizing the reference point for the posterior resection guide in the three-dimensional coordinate system for the location of the posterior resection guide comprises marking a digital reference location for the feature of the posterior resection guide on a distal end of the femur.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the feature comprises an anterior tip of the posterior resection guide.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein marking the digital reference location comprises engaging a tracked-pointer device with a location on an anterior side of the condyle to be resected.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein engaging the tracked-pointer device with the location on the anterior side of the condyle to be resected comprises:

marking a first location at a distal location of the condyle in extension; and

marking a second location at a posterior location on the condyle in flexion; and

drawing a line through the first and second locations to the location on the anterior side of the condyle.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein marking the digital reference location comprises engaging a third tracking device with an analogous feature of a manually positioned posterior resection guide for the feature.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein marking the digital reference location comprises utilizing a third tracking device coupled to a manually positioned posterior resection guide.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein marking the digital reference location comprises marking a location of a resection guide surface on a manually positioned posterior resection guide.

9. The method of claim 2 , further comprising resecting a distal portion of the femur after digitizing the reference point for the posterior resection guide in the three-dimensional coordinate system for the location of the posterior resection guide.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein digitizing the reference point for the posterior resection guide in the three-dimensional coordinate system for the location of the posterior resection guide comprises marking a digital reference location for the feature of the posterior resection guide relative to a proximal surface of the tibia.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising resecting a proximal portion of the tibia before digitizing the reference point for the posterior resection guide in the three-dimensional coordinate system for the location of the posterior resection guide.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the feature comprises a distal surface of the posterior resection guide.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein digitizing the reference point for the posterior resection guide in the three-dimensional coordinate system for the location of the posterior resection guide comprises:

digitizing a distance between a proximal resection surface of the tibia and an unresected posterior condyle of the femur.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein manually positioning the tibia relative to the femur comprises inserting a gap control device between a proximal portion of the tibia and a posterior portion of the femur.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein marking the digital reference location comprises engaging a tracked-pointer device with a proximal surface of the gap control device.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein marking the digital reference location comprises recording a tracked location of the gap control device using tracking capabilities attached to the gap control device.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising manually positioning a posterior resection guide on the gap control device.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein digitizing the distance between a proximal resection surface of the tibia and an unresected posterior condyle of the femur comprises capturing a pose of the femur relative to the tibia with the first tracking device and the second tracking device.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

converting the digitized reference point to coordinates in the three-dimensional coordinate system for a location of the posterior resection guide;

calculating a position of the feature on the posterior resection guide relative to the robotic arm when the posterior resection guide is coupled to the robotic arm; and

moving the feature of the posterior resection guide mounted to the robotic arm to the location.

20. The method of claim 1 , further comprising holding positioning of the tibia relative to the femur to fix a gap height between the tibia and femur.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein manually determining a position for the posterior resection guide to perform the posterior resection comprises positioning a gap gauge into a gap between a proximal portion of the tibia and a posterior portion of the femur.

22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising manually positioning the posterior resection guide into engagement with the gap gauge.

23. The method of claim 22 , further comprising manually positioning the posterior resection guide on the gap gauge, the gap gauge comprising a gap checker block.

24. The method of claim 22 , further comprising manually positioning a flange of the posterior resection guide into the gap with the gap gauge, the gap gauge comprising a shim.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (4)

References Cited (56)