Patient-specific partial knee guides and other instruments

1. A surgical kit for unicompartmental knee arthroplasty comprising:

a unitary patient-specific unicompartmental tibial guide comprising:

a patient-specific body with an inner surface preoperatively configured to nestingly conform and mate in only one position with an anterior portion and a proximal portion of one compartment of a tibial bone of a specific patient;

a drill guide portion positioned within the tibial guide body comprising first and second tubular bores preoperatively configured for receiving within the first and second tubular bores a drill for drilling first and second anterior holes into the tibial bone for guiding a horizontal tibial resection; and

a vertical resection guide portion positioned within the tibial guide body comprising a vertical slot comprising an opening that extends vertically that is preoperatively configured for receiving within the vertical slot a cutting tool for guiding a vertical resection through the tibial bone before the horizontal tibial resection; and

wherein the first and second anterior holes are drilled to receive a horizontal resection guide separate from the patient-specific unicompartmental tibial guide for guiding the horizontal tibial resection.

2. The surgical kit of claim 1 , wherein the vertical resection guide portion includes first and second resection flanges forming the vertical resection slot.

3. The surgical kit of claim 2 , wherein the vertical resection slot ends in a safety stop hole formed between the first and second resection flanges, wherein the safety stop hole is configured to receive a stop pin configured to limit a depth of the vertical resection.

4. The surgical kit of claim 1 , wherein the drill guide portion includes first and second tapered bores configured for registration with a tibial drill template.

5. The surgical kit of claim 4 , wherein the drill guide portion includes a third tapered bore.

6. The surgical kit of claim 1 , wherein the patient-specific body includes a posterior segment configured to mateably engage a posterior portion of the proximal plateau of the tibial bone.

7. The surgical kit of claim 6 , wherein the patient-specific body includes a flange configured to wrap around and lock with a corresponding ridge of a medial side of the proximal plateau of the tibial bone.

8. The surgical kit of claim 5 , further comprising a tibial drill template having first and second tapered and tubular registration formations configured to be received in the first and second tapered bores of the drill guide portion of the tibial guide.

9. The surgical kit of claim 8 , wherein the tibial drill template includes a tubular cylindrical shaft configured to be received into the third tapered bore.

10. The surgical kit of claim 8 , wherein the tibial drill template includes first and second outer slots for engaging an alignment verification instrument.

11. The surgical kit of claim 10 , further comprising an alignment verification instrument having a bifurcated distal end engaging the outer slots of the tibial template and a proximal end having an opening for guiding an extramedullary alignment rod.

12. The surgical kit of claim 1 , further comprising: a unitary patient-specific unicompartmental femoral guide comprising: a patient-specific body with an inner surface preoperatively configured to nestingly conform and mate in only one position with an anterior portion and a distal portion of one compartment of a distal femoral bone of a specific patient, and an elongated slot opening through the femoral guide, the slot having a tapered inner wall.

13. The surgical kit of claim 12 , further comprising a femoral drill template having a tapered outer portion configured to be received in the elongated slot and first and second guiding holes configured for drilling holes into the femoral bone to support a resection block.

14. The surgical kit of claim 12 , further comprising a plurality of femoral drill templates, each template having a tapered outer portion configured to be received in the elongated slot and first and second guiding holes configured for drilling holes into the femoral bone to support a resection block, wherein the first and second holes of each of the plurality of femoral drill templates has different spacing for each femoral drill template.

15. The surgical kit of claim 14 , wherein the first and second holes of each femoral drill template have different sizes.

16. The surgical kit of claim 13 , wherein the femoral drill template includes first and second outer slots for engaging an alignment verification instrument.

17. The surgical kit of claim 16 , further comprising an alignment verification instrument having a bifurcated distal end configured to engage the outer slots of the femoral template and a proximal end having an opening configured for guiding an extramedullary alignment rod.