Patent ID: 7837739

Claim:
A surgically implantable biarticular disk designed to replace a CMC joint, which implant comprises: an integral disk which is circular in plan view and has a pair of convex spherical articular surfaces, each of which is a section of a sphere, and an axial, flaring hole which extends therethrough from articular surface to articular surface to accommodate a flexible cord that is passed through passageways in the metacarpus and the trapezium or other carpal bone, said convex spherical articular surfaces being interconnected at their peripheries by a curved rim surface which is a segment of a spheroid, which disk is a graphite core coated with wear-resistant pyrocarbon on its articular surfaces and, once surgically implanted in space created by resecting the base of the metacarpus and the distal surface of the trapezium to provide two concave spherical surfaces, allows the metacarpus to flex relative to the trapezium or other carpal bone enough for useful hand function, with each bone sliding on the respective mating convex articular surface of the disk while the flexible cord conforms to the flaring surface of the axial hole in the plane of flexion.