System and method for precise prosthesis positioning in hip arthroplasty

摘要

Provided are systems and methods for precise intra-operative placement and positioning of components of hip prostheses, particularly with respect to avoiding acetabular prosthetic implant malpositioning in the human hip. In one embodiment the system includes at least a pair of electronic sensors as tilt and direction sensors, which are positioned on the patient's native bone structure and the prosthesis, plus at least one of an electronic angle sensor and an electronic leg length measurement unit, plus a computer processor running application software that is capable of receiving and using information from the various electronic sensors to calculate relevant angular relationships and, optionally, distance relationships. The system electronically measures a living subject's pelvic tilt and position while lying in the lateral decubitus position during the surgery. The systems and methods provide accurate and precise measurements of the subject's pelvic tilt, angle of inclination, and angle of forward flexion to the surgeon during the procedure by which the hip prosthesis is surgically implanted into the subject.

主权项

1. A method for precise intra-operative positioning of a total hip prosthesis in a human subject, comprising:
determining a pelvic axis of a human subject in need of hip arthroplasty; attaching a first electronic position sensor (ES1) to a bony anatomic site on the pelvic axis of the subject; attaching a second electronic position sensor (ES2) to a cup impactor, wherein the first and second electronic position sensors are capable of acting in combination to report information useful to calculate a true angle of inclination and a true angle of forward flexion of an acetabular prosthetic cup; contacting the cup impactor with the acetabular prosthetic cup that is to be implanted into a prosthetic implantation site in the subject; transferring information from the first and second electronic position sensors to a computer processor running application software, wherein the application software calculates the true angle of inclination and the true angle of forward flexion of the acetabular prosthetic cup; and displaying results of the calculations on an electronic visual display device while the prosthesis is being surgically positioned for implantation into the subject.