Laser aiming device for performing anterior cruciate...

Surgery – Instruments – Orthopedic instrumentation

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C606S096000, C606S098000, C606S179000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06254606

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) surgery, and more particularly to an improved device and method for performing such surgery.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) spans the knee, joining the femur bone of the upper leg and the tibia bone of the lower leg. The ACL enables the knee to bend so that the leg below the knee can move in relation to the leg above the knee. Injuries to the ACL are very common, especially among athletes.
When the ACL is torn it can not be directly repaired with a suture, but must instead be reconstructed using grafted donor tissue which is placed across the knee in the same position and orientation as the ACL it replaces through two tunnels, one drilled in the tibia and the other in femur. To ensure proper range of motion of the reconstructed knee, the tunnels should be collinear. At present, a conventional tibial aiming device, shown in FIG.
1
and described in more detail below, is used to assist a surgeon in determining the proper angle at which the tunnels should be drilled through reference points selected on the tibia and femur, respectively, so that the tunnels are collinear.
Conventional tibial aiming devices suffer from a significant drawback. Specifically, they rely upon the eyes of a surgeon to determine the angle at which the tunnels should be drilled with respect to the aforementioned reference points. However, relying upon one's eyesight to estimate this angle often results in tunnels that are not collinearly formed and thus an improperly reconstructed ACL.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An apparatus and method using a laser in conjunction with a conventional tibial aiming device for assisting a surgeon in drilling collinear tibial and femoral tunnels during ACLR surgery. The laser is used to determine the angle at which to drill the two tunnels with respect to tibial and femoral reference points selected by the surgeon so that the tunnels are collinear.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5163940 (1992-11-01), Bourque
patent: 5562664 (1996-10-01), Durlacher et al.
patent: 5613971 (1997-03-01), Lower et al.
patent: 5643273 (1997-07-01), Clark
patent: 5968050 (1999-10-01), Torrie
patent: 6120511 (2000-09-01), Chan

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