Methodology for Understanding Knee Anatomy and Design of an Anatomic System for Revision Knee Arthroplasty

A method for manufacturing a prosthetic support structure for implantation in a cavity in an end of a bone, the method comprising:

• forming a prosthetic support structure having an exterior surface dimensioned to fit in the cavity and having an inner surface which defines a passageway of the support structure, the passageway being dimensioned to receive a stem of a prosthetic implant, the passageway extending from a first end surface to a second end surface of the support structure, the first end surface of the support structure being within an axial plane defined by the first end surface and an outermost edge of the first end surface, the passageway having a longitudinal axis, an intersection point between the axial plane and the longitudinal axis of the passageway having been determined by:
• (i) obtaining an image of a reference bone,
• (ii) orienting on the image a first reference axial plane located at a first distance from an end surface of the reference bone,
• (iii) orienting on the image a second reference axial plane located at a second distance from the end surface of the reference bone, the first distance and the second distance being different,
• (iv) orienting on the image an intramedullary axis by connecting a first intersection point and a second intersection point, the first intersection point being defined by a first intersection of an inertial axis of the reference bone with the first reference axial plane, the second intersection point being defined by a second intersection of the inertial axis of the reference bone with the second reference axial plane,
• (v) orienting on the image a reference resection plane having a border defined by an axial image of the reference bone, and
• (vi) orienting on the image a reference intersection point between the reference resection plane and the intramedullary axis, wherein a reference spatial relationship between the reference intersection point and the border of the reference resection plane corresponds to a spatial relationship of the intersection point on the axial plane and the outermost edge of the first end surface of the support structure.