Patent ID: 7572262

Claim:
A method for resecting a distal femur to implant a knee prosthesis, the method comprising: securing a cutting guide to the distal femur; aligning a substantially planar guiding surface of the cutting guide substantially parallel to a resected distal surface of the distal femur; pivoting first and second referencing arms extending from the cutting guide from a storage position in which the first and second referencing arms are substantially parallel to the guiding surface to an engagement position in which the first and second referencing arms are substantially perpendicular to the guiding surface, the first referencing arm having a first length extending from a first proximal end coupled to the cutting guide to a first distal engagement tip, the second referencing arm having a second length extending from a second proximal end coupled to the cutting guide to a second distal engagement tip; engaging the first and second engagement tips of the corresponding first and second referencing arms to medial and lateral epicondyles of the distal femur; referencing the medial and lateral epicondyles along a line passing through the first and second engagement tips; locating a natural femoral joint line on the guiding surface by pre-selecting the first and second lengths to correspond to first and second distances from the first and second epicondyles to the natural femoral joint line along the first and second referencing arms; and resecting at least a portion of the distal femur through a cutting slot passing though the guiding surface.