Patent ID: 8882779

Claim:
A system for manufacturing a custom patient specific arthroplasty jig configured to form a bone resection during an arthroplasty procedure on a target region surface of a damaged bone of a patient, the damaged bone including a femoral mechanical axis, the system comprising: a computer that is programmed: a) to receive CT or MR image data of the target region surface; b) to analyze the CT or MR image data to provide at least first, second and third location coordinate values for each of a selected sequence of surface point locations on the target region surface; c) to provide a bone surface model of the target region surface, the bone surface model comprising a selected sequence of one or more polygons defined by the sequence of surface point locations, using at least one of a point-to-point mapping or a surface normal vector mapping to provide the bone surface model; and d) to use the bone surface model to generate automated instructions to fabricate, before any incision in the patient, the custom patient specific arthroplasty jig configured for forming the bone resection, the custom patient specific arthroplasty jig including: (i) a patient specific mating surface that matches at least a portion of the bone surface model; and (ii) a planar surface for guiding a cutting tool for performing the resection, the planar surface having a relationship relative to the femoral mechanical axis, wherein the custom patient specific arthroplasty jig is configured such that the patient specific mating surface nestingly matches the target region surface of at least a portion of the damaged bone in only a single configuration, and such that when the at least a portion of the target region surface is nestingly matched in the patient specific mating surface, resecting with the jig will provide at least one selected planar surface in the damaged bone that has a preoperatively planned alignment with the femoral mechanical axis.