Patent ID: RE39301

Claim:
A method of knee joint arthroplasty comprising preparing a distal femur to accept a femoral component in knee replacement surgery wherein the femoral intramedullary canal is used as the reference point for all resection cuts comprising the steps of: i. incrementally reaming the intramedullary canal out to cortical bone with a reamer means; ii. leaving said reamer means in place and attaching thereto a distal cutting guide; iii. resetting medial and lateral distal surfaces of said femur along said distal cutting guide; iv. replacing said distal cutting guide with a posterior cutting guide and resetting medial and lateral posterior condylar surfaces of said femur along said posterior cutting guide; v i . removing said posterior cutting guide and reamer, attaching a provisional intramedullary stem attaching to a provisional femoral component to a distal femur surface what has been preliminarily resected , which said provisional femoral component including an anterior includes a cutting guide formed therein and an outer surface replicating that replicates the size of a permanent femoral component , and inserting said stem into said intramedullary canal ; vi ii . evaluating flexion/extension gaps of the knee and patella tracking relative to said provisional femoral component and establishing correct gaps and soft tissue balance of said knee relative to the anatomical size of said knee; vii iii . resetting an anterior surface of said femur surface along said anterior cutting guide of said provisional femoral component; and viii iv . removing said provisional stem and provisional femoral component and inserting replacing it with a permanent femoral component corresponding that corresponds to said provisional component.