Patent ID: 7141053

Claim:
A method of surgically preparing a femoral condyle to receive a prosthetic femoral component in a minimally invasive unicompartmental knee replacement procedure, comprising the steps of accessing a knee through a minimal incision; positioning a femoral resurfacing guide on a femoral condyle of the knee to externally delineate an area of the femoral condyle to be resurfaced to receive a prosthetic femoral component, said step of positioning including externally delineating the area with a rail member of the femoral resurfacing guide; and removing anatomical tissue from the externally delineated area by moving a tissue removing instrument along the externally delineated area within the confines of the rail members, wherein said step of removing includes contacting an engagement wall of the tissue removing instrument with an abutment wall of the femoral resurfacing guide to limit removal of anatomical tissue to a predetermined depth, and wherein said step of removing includes accessing the externally delineated area by introducing the tissue removing instrument through a window of a slide movably carried by the rail member and moving the slide along the rail member as the tissue removing instrument is moved along the externally delineated area, and said step of contacting includes contacting the engagement wall with a surface of the slide defining the abutment wall.