Prosthesis (i.e. – artificial body members) – parts thereof – or ai – Implantable prosthesis – Bone
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-23
2001-07-24
Snow, Bruce (Department: 3738)
Prosthesis (i.e., artificial body members), parts thereof, or ai
Implantable prosthesis
Bone
C623S022410, C623S022420, C623S020150
Reexamination Certificate
active
06264699
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not Applicable.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
Not Applicable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a prosthesis for replacing an articulating portion of a long bone, the prosthesis having modular stem and sleeve components.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Replacement of articulating joints in humans has become increasingly common. In the replacement of many articulating joints, it is necessary to implant a prosthesis within a long bone, the prosthesis completely replacing the articulating end of the bone. For example, a distal femoral element is often necessary when replacing a knee joint; a proximal femoral element for a hip joint; a proximal humeral element for a shoulder joint; etc.
Recently, modular prosthesis components for replacing the end of a long bone in joint replacement surgery have become more popular. Successful joint replacement surgery depends, in part, on careful selection of prosthesis components to replace portions of the patient's bone with components that properly fit with existing bone and restore natural function to the joint being replaced. In order to provide prostheses that would exactly fit each patient who might require joint replacement surgery, hospitals would have to inventory an extraordinary number of single piece prostheses. With single piece prostheses, the only other option is to stock fewer prostheses with the result that many patients will receive a prosthesis that fits well only in one aspect.
As an alternative, modular prosthesis components have been developed, such as the modular sleeve prosthesis of U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,852, or the modular stem, sleeve and neck combinations disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,002,578 and 5,725,592. While improving the situation described above in some respects, existing modular prosthesis configurations may still be improved. For example, present designs do not allow for a single modular sleeve to engage a wide variety of stem sizes, requiring multiple sleeves of the same size for various different stem size combinations and increasing rather than decreasing inventory. Present modular sleeve designs do not allow for sleeves of varying lengths to be used modularly with existing stems while still providing a desired snug fit between prosthesis components. Extended length sleeves are particularly desirable when the joint replacement surgery is necessary due to cancer or some other degenerative bone disease or condition and greater filling of the long bone in proximity to the joint is desired. In addition, present designs do not provide all of these modularity advantages while providing for assembly of all the modular components within the patient—allowing the surgeon to align and properly fit each modular component separately and reducing the chances of malaligning or misfitting a component.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an orthopaedic prosthesis system for replacement of an articulating portion of a long bone including a sleeve, a stem, and a neck. The sleeve has an outer bone engagement surface and includes opposed proximal and distal female taper regions. The stem has a distal end for fixation within a long bone, and a proximal end including a male taper region that engages with the distal female taper of the sleeve. The neck has a taper post that engages the proximal female taper of the sleeve.
In one embodiment, both the neck and the sleeve define axial bores, the axial bore in the sleeve communicating with and being generally coaxial with the two opposed female tapers, and the neck axial bore extending through the taper post. A connecting element can engage the stem, pass through the axial bore in the sleeve, extend into the axial bore in the neck taper post, and engage the neck. Tightening the connecting element tightens the taper connections.
The prosthesis system may be highly modular, combining a neck, stem and sleeve selected from groups of components having different sizes and shapes. In addition, specific embodiments of the invention may be applied to different joint prostheses including, for example, hip, knee and shoulder prosthesis.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4790852 (1988-12-01), Noiles
patent: 4822366 (1989-04-01), Bolesky
patent: 4878917 (1989-11-01), Kranz et al.
patent: 4936853 (1990-06-01), Fabian et al.
patent: 5002578 (1991-03-01), Luman
patent: 5080685 (1992-01-01), Bolesky et al.
patent: 5507830 (1996-04-01), DeMane et al.
patent: 5725592 (1998-03-01), White et al.
patent: 5766263 (1998-06-01), Grundei et al.
patent: 5876459 (1999-03-01), Powell
patent: 0634154 (1995-01-01), None
DeCarlo, Jr. Alfred F.
Noiles Douglas G.
DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc.
Snow Bruce
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