Abstract: A knee prosthesis and a method of selecting for a particular patient a knee prosthesis from an inventory of available knee prosthesis or from 3D knee prosthesis models is provided. The method includes the steps of (a) parameterizing a knee prosthesis according to well-defined and independent knee joint compartments, (b) generating a large number knee shapes in the form of 3D knee prosthesis models which reproduce the 3D shape asymmetries of each individual knee, thereby enabling the replication of the knee motion of essentially any patient by generating shapes which vary the shape parameters (surface and dimension) of at least one of those compartments and storing these 3D knee prosthesis models in a database, and (c) studying the patient’s pathology and developing pre -pathological knee prosthesis criteria matching the patient’s needs.

Abstract: The invention relates to a plasma source (1) for depositing a coating onto a substrate (9), which is connectable to a power source (P) and includes: an electrode (2); a magnetic assembly (4) located circumferentially relative to said electrode and including a set of magnets mutually connected by a magnetic bracket (46) including a first and second central magnet (43, 44) and at least one head magnet (45); and an electrically insulating enclosure (5) arranged such as to surround the electrode and the magnets.

Abstract: The invention relates to a plasma source (1) for depositing a coating onto a substrate (9), which is connectable to a power source (P) and includes: an electrode (2); a magnetic assembly (4) located circumferentially relative to said electrode and including a set of magnets mutually connected by a magnetic bracket (46) including a first and second central magnet (43, 44) and at least one head magnet (45); and an electrically insulating enclosure (5) arranged such as to surround the electrode and the magnets.

Abstract: A kit for a knee joint prosthesis includes a tibia part, a femur part and a meniscus part which is to be arranged between the femur part and the tibia part. The kit enables the assembly of different prosthesis types, namely of prostheses in which the meniscus part is arranged to be immobile relative to the tibia part and of prostheses in which the meniscus part is arranged so as to be movable relative to the tibia part. The kit includes a plurality of guiding elements which are formed in such a manner that the respective guiding element is in engagement with the tibia part and with the meniscus part when the prosthesis is assembled and determines the movability of the meniscus part relative to the tibia part.

Abstract: A tibia part for a knee joint prosthesis. The prosthesis includes a tibia bearing surface for the support of a bearing body and a bore for the reception of a guiding element. A cut-out for the rear cruciate ligament is provided in the tibia bearing surface and the bore is formed in such a manner that it can, depending on the design of the guiding element, receive the latter either rotationally fixedly relative to the tibia part or rotatably relative to the tibia part.

Abstract: A knee prosthesis has a medial condyle (1) and a lateral condyle (5), the running surfaces (2) of which and the counter-surfaces A, B of which that lie on a tibia platform (3) are sections of spherical surfaces with radii R1, R2, with their center M1′ and M2′ forming in their vertical projection onto the counter-surfaces A, B the points M1, M2. The lateral counter-surface B belongs to a lateral meniscus part (7) which, guided on a plane (13) of the tibia platform, is pivotal with the point M2 on a circular arc with radius R3 about the point M1, with the radius R3 corresponding to the distance a of the centers M1′, M2′.

Abstract: A mono-condylar knee joint prosthesis that includes a femur part having a convex running surface. The knee joint prosthesis further includes a tibia part having a sliding surface which faces the femur part and an intermediate part which is introduced between the femur part and the tibia part during implantation. The intermediate part has two bearing surfaces, namely a first, concave bearing surface for cooperating with the convex running surface of the femur part as well as a second bearing surface for cooperating with the sliding surface of the tibia part. A boundary surface is provided at the tibia part which bounds the sliding surface of the tibia part and projects pointing in the direction towards the femur part in order to be able to cooperate with a side surface of the intermediate part.

Abstract: Femur parts of knee prostheses are shown with the invention which have a center part (2) and a condyle part (3) with contact surfaces (4a, 5a, 6a, 6b, 7b, 8a, 9a, 10a, 11a, 11b, 12a, 12b, 13b) with respect to a resectioned femur stump (1), with the center part (2) having guide surfaces (20) for a patella (19) and outer contact surfaces (4a, 5a) which are at an acute angle &agr;≦90° relative to one another, while the condyle part (3) has running surfaces (27, 28) for the articulation movement and outer contact surfaces (6b, 7b) at an acute angle &bgr;≦90° relative to one another. The center part (2) and the condyle part (3) can be pushed onto the femur stump separately from one another at push-on directions pivoted with respect to one another in order to allow a greater flexion, with the center line of the angle &bgr; being pivoted through an angle of 15°≦&ggr;≦60° with respect to the center line of the angle &agr;.

Abstract: An artificial knee joint has a meniscus part (1) which is displaceably journalled on a tibia platform (2) and a guiding part (7) which is rotatably journalled on the tibia platform (2) and which engages into a guide (8) of the meniscus part (1), with the guiding part and the meniscus part having lateral guiding surfaces (9a, 10a; 9b, 10b) for guiding the meniscus part (1). In order to limit the surface pressure between the guiding surfaces (9a, 9b; 10a, 10b) the lateral guiding surfaces (9a, 9b; 10a, 10b) have different radii of curvature (R1, R2) which are greater than 10 cm, with the sum of the reciprocals of the radii of curvature 1/R1+1/R2 being less than 0.2 cm−1.

Abstract: The invention shows a knee prosthesis comprising a medial condyle (1) and a lateral condyle (5), the running surfaces (2) of which and the counter-surfaces A, B of which that lie on a tibia platform (3) are sections of spherical surfaces with radii R1, R2, with their center M1′ and M2′ forming in their vertical projection onto the counter-surfaces A, B the points M1 and M2. The lateral counter-surface B belongs to a lateral meniscus part (7) which, guided on a plane (13) of the tibia platform, is pivotal with the point M2 on a circular arc with radius R3 about the point M1, with the radius R3 corresponding to the distance a of the centers M1′, M2′.

Abstract: A kit for a knee joint prosthesis comprises a tibia part (1, 1a), a femur part (4) and a meniscus part (3, 3a) which is to be arranged between the femur part (4) and the tibia part (1, 1a) . The kit enables the assembly of different prosthesis types, namely of prostheses in which the meniscus part (3a) is arranged to be immobile relative to the tibia part (1) and of prostheses in which the meniscus part (3) is arranged so as to be movable relative to the tibia part (1). The kit comprises a plurality of guiding elements (6, 6a, 6b) which are formed in such a manner that the respective guiding element (6, 6a, 6b) is in engagement with the tibia part (1, la) and with the meniscus part (3, 3a) when the prosthesis is assembled and determines the movability of the meniscus part (3, 3a) relative to the tibia part (1, 1a).