Abstract: The invention provides methods and apparatus for accurately cutting bones with a surgical cutting device, such as a sagittal saw, using a surgical navigation system without use of a complex cutting jig. A surgical navigation system is used to navigate a guide tube to be used to drill a k-wire into the bone. The k-wire will act as a guide to control at least one degree of freedom of a saw blade for making a cut in the bone. In an exemplary high tibial osteotomy procedure, in which two intersecting planar cuts must be made in the tibia in order to remove a wedge of bone, a surgical navigation marker is mounted on the guide tube. The surgeon uses the surgical navigation system to navigate the guide tube to the desired varus-valgus angle and height of the first cut and then drills a k-wire into the tibia at that varus-valgus angle using the guide tube. The process is repeated for the second cut.

Abstract: A non-invasive method for determining the articular point of a joint is disclosed. The method uses a surgical navigation system having a stereoscopic cameras which tracks the positions of infrared emitting or reflecting markers attached to appendages on either side of the joint. A movable marker is used to palpate known landmarks on the appendages to determine their positions. The appendages are moved to determine the trajectories of the landmarks relative to the joint. Positional information from the cameras is fed to a data processing system with resident software which uses the positional information and trajectories to mathematically determine the position of the joint articular point according to the laws of kinematics.

Abstract: To improve a sterile container, in particular, for receiving and storing surgical instruments or surgical material under sterile conditions, comprising a receiving space formed by a container bottom and container walls, a lid for closing the receiving space, a gas exchange opening for providing a fluid connection between the receiving space and an environment outside of the sterile container, a filter holding device including a first holding element and a second holding element, and a sterile filter, wherein, in a sterile position in which the sterile filter closes the gas exchange opening, the sterile filter is held between the first holding element and the second holding element, so that the design thereof is simplified and damage to the sterile filter is avoided, it is proposed that the sterile filter be constructed so as to have no openings, that the first holding element have at least one first holding surface, that the second holding element have at least one second holding surface, and that in the ster

Abstract: In a method for determining the orientation and the position of an object in space with the assistance of a sensing instrument which is provided with a marking element and is thereby determinable with respect to its orientation and its position by means of a navigation system, in order to be able to carry out a reliable determination of the position, even under confined conditions of access, it is proposed that the sensing instrument be successively connected in a guided manner to the object for free rotation about two non-parallel, defined axes of rotation, that the sensing instrument be rotated about these axes of rotation, and that the orientation and the position of the two defined axes of rotation in space and hence the orientation and the position of the object in space be calculated from the resulting movement of the marking element during this rotation. A suitable apparatus for carrying out this method and an implant used therein are also described.

Abstract: An intervertebral implant for contact with adjacent vertebral bodies is provided. The implant includes a first carrier plate including a front edge, a middle, a rear edge, and a concave, crowned joint surface comprising a lowest point. The implant further includes a second carrier plate including a front edge, a middle, a rear edge, a center line extending between said front edge and said rear edge, and a convex, crowned joint surface comprising a highest point. The joint surfaces are positioned flatly in contact with one another and are configured to support the carrier plates pivotably with respect to one another. The highest and lowest points of the joint surfaces are positioned between the rear edges and the middles of the carrier plates. The convex joint surface projects farther away from the second carrier plate at its end facing the rear edge than at its end facing the front edge.

Abstract: To improve a sterile container, in particular, for receiving and storing surgical instruments or surgical material under sterile conditions, comprising a receiving space formed by a container bottom and container walls, a lid for closing the receiving space, a sterile barrier permanently defining a sterile flow path for establishing a fluid connection between the receiving space and an environment outside of the sterile container, and an overpressure flow path defining a fluid connection between the receiving space and the environment outside of the sterile container, wherein the overpressure flow path is closed when the sterile container is in a sterile position in which an exchange of gas between the receiving space and the environment outside of the sterile container is only possible through the sterile flow path, and wherein the overpressure flow path is at least partially open when the sterile container is in an overpressure position in which a pressure difference between pressures prevailing in the rece

Abstract: Two cutting blocks are provided for preparing a femur for total knee arthroplasty. A first cutting block comprises a block body positionable on a resected distal end of the femur. A first slot is provided in the block body for guiding a saw blade when making an anterior femoral cut. A second slot is provided for guiding a saw blade when making an anterior chamfer cut. A third slot is provided for guiding a saw blade when making a posterior chamfer cut. The second cutting block comprises a block body positionable on the resected distal end of the femur after making the anterior femoral cut, the anterior chamfer cut, and the posterior chamfer cut. A slot is provided in the block body of the second cutting block for guiding a saw blade when making a posterior femoral cut.

Abstract: An osteotomy resection procedure for removing a wedge from a bone utilizing a localization device. The localization device being used to track reference points associated with the bone, track surgical instruments, perform calculations to determine a resection angle for the wedge, and assist a surgeon in performing the procedure.

Abstract: The invention is a rod to rod connector that can be used to interconnect two generally parallel spinal rods of a spinal rod and anchor system. The connector comprises a transverse rod and two pairs of clamping bodies, one for each spinal rod. Each pair connects one of the longitudinal spinal rods to the transverse rod in infinitely adjustable angular relationship. One of the two clamping bodies of each pair comprises a C-shaped channel for accepting the spinal rod. The channel is in communication with a slot that defines a hinge. A threaded screw hole passes transversely through the slot and permits a screw to squeeze the hinge, thereby causing the C-shaped channel to close around and clamp the rod. The second clamping body is similar to the first except that there is no slot or hinge and the screw hole preferably is not threaded, but includes a countersink for seating a chamfered screw head. Also, an angular portion of the screw hole intersects the C-shaped channel.

Abstract: A locking mechanism for securing a bone screw 20 to a clamping element 30 of an osteosynthesis holding system 5 is provided. The bone screw 20 has a circumferential groove 25 located on a top portion of the screw 20 below a screw head 22. Snap catches 35 protrude from a bone-contacting surface 38 of the clamping element 30 and interlock with the groove 25 in the screw 20 when the screw 20 is inserted into the clamping element 30 (e.g., when the screw is screwed into a bone segment through a hole in the clamping element). A removal device 90 is provided for removing the screw 20, as a greater axial force is required to overcome the locking mechanism than is needed to engage the locking mechanism. A method for revision (removal) of the screw 20 from the locking mechanism is also provided.

Abstract: The invention relates to a sterile container, in particular for the receipt and sterile storage of surgical instruments or material, comprising a receiving chamber and a gas exchange opening that can be sealed using a sterile filter. The aim of the invention is to prevent undesired liquid from reaching the sterile filter. To achieve this, the exterior of the lid is provided with at least one inflow edge, which faces away from the gas exchange opening, and falls away towards the exterior in relation to a lid plane.

Abstract: To avoid a maximum displacing force being exceeded in the case of a device for pushing together a thread loop which is formed by a slip knot at the distal free end of the thread which can be displaced along the thread, with a displacing element which can be displaced on the thread in the direction of the loop, it is proposed that the displacing element or the proximal portion of the thread disposed at the end of the displacing element remote from the loop has connected to it a gripping element which releases the connection between itself and the displacing element or the proximal portion of the thread when a specific holding force is exceeded.

Abstract: In a surgical saw guide comprising a guide body having a front side for placement on a body structure, an opposite rear side, and a guide slot for a saw blade, which extends through the guide body from the rear side to the front side thereof and is delimited at the sides, in order to enlarge the cutting area that can be reached by the saw blade and nevertheless ensure a reliable guidance of the saw blade in the guide slot, it is proposed that the guide slot be open at the sides at least at one end on the front side of the guide body.

Abstract: In order, in a vertebral body replacement implant having an upper and a lower support plate for positioning against end faces of vertebral bodies and having two load-bearing elements, the mutual spacing of which is adjustable and of which at least one is connected in an articulated manner to a support plate, to improve the fixing of the articulated connection, it is proposed that the load-bearing element in the region of the articulated connection to the support plate has a bearing projection with a spherical lateral surface, that the support plate or a bearing part connected thereto rests with a contact surface, which is of a complementary design to the spherical support surface, against the lateral surface over an angular range that extends in peripheral direction at least over 180°, that the support plate or the bearing part is mounted on the bearing projection pivotably about a pivotal axis that extends parallel to the support plate, and that a clamping device that clamps the bearing projection, on the on

Abstract: A non-invasive method for determining the articular point of a knee joint is disclosed. The method uses a surgical navigation system having stereoscopic cameras which track the positions of infrared emitting or reflecting markers attached to leg portions on either side of the knee joint. A movable marker is used to palpate known landmarks on the leg portions to determine their positions. The leg portions are moved to determine the trajectories of the landmarks relative to the joint. Positional information from the cameras is fed to a data processing system with resident software which uses the positional information and trajectories to mathematically determine the positions of the knee joint articular point according to the laws of kinematics.

Abstract: A method for determination of the mobility of a hip joint prosthesis is proposed, comprising a bearing cup that can be inserted in the hip bone and a prosthetic shaft that can be inserted in the femur and is pivotally mounted by a spherical joint surface in the bearing cup, which is characterised in that the femur with the prosthetic shaft is pivoted as far as possible in various directions, in that it is determined whether the central point of the bearing cup and the central point of the spherical joint surface move apart from one another during this process, and in that, for each pivoting direction, the maximum pivoting angle is thus determined, at which the central points begin to move apart from one another. A device for carrying out this method is also proposed.

Abstract: In order to improve a surgical system for the preparation of an implant for filling a defect on a bone and/or a cartilage of a human or animal body formed as a result of a trauma and/or degeneration, so that the defect can be filled with the implant with as precise a fit as possible, it is proposed that the system enables a provided defect data file to be processed, which contains data in particular for the description of the shape, area and/or volume of the defect, and that the system enables the implant corresponding to the defect in shape and size to be prepared from at least one provided implant material using the defect data file. In addition, a method for filling a defect on a bone and/or cartilage of a human or animal body present as a result of a trauma and/or degeneration is proposed.

Abstract: To improve a cartilage replacement implant for the biological regeneration of a damaged cartilage area of articular cartilage in the human body, comprising a cell carrier which has a defect-contacting surface for placement on the damaged cartilage area and is formed and designed for colonization with human cells, so that after implantation of the cartilage replacement implant, formation of a gap between adjacent contact surfaces of the implant and surrounding recipient tissue is minimized, it is proposed that the cell carrier rest with surface-to-surface contact on a carrier and be joined to the carrier at a cell carrier surface that faces away from the defect-contacting surface. A method for producing a cartilage replacement implant is also proposed.

Abstract: The present invention provides methods and apparatus that permit one to accurately measure range of motion of a joint for joint stability testing and other purposes. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a marker that can be tracked by a surgical navigation system is rigidly fixed to each of the bones forming a joint and the joint is placed within the field of view of the surgical navigation system. The surgical navigation system tracks the bones in all six degrees of freedom by tracking the markers attached thereto. The navigation system can be programmed to measure and display to the surgeon all information relevant to such joint stability testing, including, but not limited to, starting position, maximum joint translation, maximum joint rotation, instantaneous joint translation, instantaneous joint rotation, and instantaneous joint flexion angle. The system may be set up to show a comparison of pre- and post-operative data.

Abstract: The present invention provides methods and apparatus that permit one to position a cutting jig or other component using a localization device to navigate different degrees of freedom of the component in discrete, sequential steps. For instance, a first mounting pin for a cutting jig that sets one or more, but fewer than all, degrees of freedom of the cutting jig is navigated into position using the localization device. For instance, the first mounting pin might set the height and the slope of the cutting plane of the jig. Next, a marker is mounted on the cutting jig and the cutting jig is slid onto the mounted pin. Then the cutting block is navigated in another degree of freedom, for instance, to set the varus-valgus angle of the cutting plane by rotating the jig about the axis of the pin. A second mounting pin for the jig is affixed to the bone based on that navigation.