Locking swivel patella clamp

In a patella clamp having a patella side adapted to engage a non-resected surface of a patella and having a patella implant side opposite the patella side and moveable relative thereto, the patella implant side adapted to engage a patella implant to be clamped to a resected surface of the patella, at a corresponding orientation relative to a reference plane, the improvement to the patella clamp comprising:

• a lockable swivel connected to the patella side of the clamp;
• a dish into which the lockable swivel is received;
• a spiked plate connected to the lockable swivel;
• a locking pin selectively actuatable to lock the swivel relative to the dish;
• a retaining ring rotatably interconnected between the swivel and the spiked plate to permit selective rotation of the spiked plate relative to the swivel;
• wherein the dish has a concave surface;
• wherein the lockable swivel has a corresponding convex, pivoting surface opposing the concave surface;
• wherein the locking pin is moveable between an unlocked position and a locked position, the unlocked position slidably retaining the swivel relative to the dish and the locked position fixing the swivel relative to the dish;
• wherein the swivel extends to a circumferential edge;
• wherein the spiked plate is rotatably mounted to, and oriented outwardly from, the circumferential edge of the swivel to be selectively engageable with the non-resected surface of the patella;
• wherein the dish has a bore defined in the concave surface and the pivoting surface has a swivel aperture aligned with the bore;
• wherein the locking pin has a locking pin shaft extending through the bore and the swivel aperture and terminating in a locking pin head, the locking pin head having a portion extending transversely relative to the shaft to define a flange;
• wherein the swivel aperture is defined by edges, the edges extending in at least one direction over a distance greater than the diameter of the locking pin shaft and less than at least one dimension of the flange, so that the edges of the swivel aperture are engageable by the flange;
• wherein the locking pin is further adapted so that, when in the unlocked position, the swivel is slidable to a user-selectable orientation corresponding to the orientation of the patella implant by moving the swivel aperture relative to the locking pin shaft received therethrough;
• and
• wherein, the locking pin is further adapted so that when in the locked position, the swivel is able to be fixed in the user-selectable orientation.

A method of clamping a patella implant to a resected surface of a patella to be resurfaced in association with a resurfacing procedure, the method comprising:

• receiving an articular surface of the patella implant to position a porous surface of the patella implant along a first reference plane corresponding to the orientation of the porous surface of the patella implant;
• engaging a non-resected surface of the patella to position a resected surface of the patella along a second reference plane corresponding to the orientation of the resected surface, wherein the receiving and engaging steps position the patella implant and the patella in opposing, spaced relationship to each other;
• determining if the first and second reference planes correspond to different orientations and, if so, swiveling the engaged patella to a swiveled position that aligns the second reference plane parallel to the first referenced plane;
• upon determining the first and second reference planes are parallel to each other, locking the engaged patella at the swiveled position;
• moving the patella implant and the patella relatively toward each other and into clamping engagement by applying inwardly directed force, wherein the parallel alignment of the first and second reference planes is maintained during the foregoing clamping engagement step.