Patent ID: 8512346

Claim:
A method of installing a cutting guide on a bone element in orthopedic computer assisted surgery, the method comprising: providing a computer assisted surgery (CAS) system; positioning a drill guide against a distal end of the bone element; determining at least two pin locations on one of a medial and a lateral side of the bone element; fastening locating pins to the bone element at said determined pin locations; removing the drill guide and installing a CAS bone reference in its place on the locating pins, thereby engaging the bone reference to the bone element, the CAS bone reference having a trackable member thereon which is locatable and trackable in three dimensional space by the CAS system; digitizing landmarks on an outer surface of the bone element such that the CAS system generates a bone model representative of and registered to the bone element, such as to enable the CAS system to track the position and orientation in space of the bone element in view of the relative positions of the digitized landmarks and the bone reference fixed to the bone element; and mounting the cutting guide to the locating pins, the cutting guide including at least a distal cutting guide portion disposed at a determined resection distance relative to the bone element.