Patent ID: 7959635

Claim:
A method of performing total knee arthroplasty on a patient's knee, through an incision through skin of the patient's body, the method comprising: positioning a cutting guide member in alignment with a bone of the knee; cutting bone of at least first and second condyles of the knee, including initiating a cut in the bone while guiding a cutting tool along a guide surface of the cutting guide member to form a cut surface having an initial cut length, the guide surface having a length; angularly disposing the cutting tool along the guide surface to extend the cut surface from the initial cut length to an extended cut length, the extended length being longer than the length of the guide surface, at least a portion of said cut surface being located within the body with respect to the incision; removing the cutting guide member from against the bone, and then completing the cut in the bone without using the guide surface of the cutting guide, while guiding the cutting tool along the cut surface; and positioning a knee replacement component against the cut surface of the bone of the knee.