Patent ID: 8603095

Claim:
A total knee arthroplasty system for a knee joint of a human patient including a tibia and a femur, the tibia having a medial tibial compartment, a central tibial compartment and a lateral tibial compartment on a proximal end of the tibia having a tibial plateau with an anterior tibial cortex generally underlying a perimeter of the tibial plateau and the femur having a medial femoral compartment, a central femoral compartment and a lateral femoral compartment on a distal end of the femur, the system being adapted for use with a cutting tool to create a resected surface on the tibia, and comprising: an extramedullary tibial alignment guide; a total knee arthroplasty cutting guide including only a single slot that is configured to guide the cutting tool, the single slot being generally defined in a body and extending uninterrupted between a first end of the single slot and a second end of the single slot, wherein the cutting guide is adapted to be positioned such that the first end of the single slot is positioned medially of the lateral tibial compartment and adjacent a portion of the anterior tibial cortex underlying the central tibial compartment and the single slot extends medially from the first end towards the second end, wherein the single slot has a maximum mediolateral width defined in a plane generally perpendicular to a long axis of the tibia defining a distance over which the single slot extends in an anterior to posterior direction toward the anterior tibial cortex when the cutting guide is fixed to the tibia and operably interconnected to the extramedullary tibial alignment guide, wherein the cutting guide is configured to facilitate cutting the lateral tibial compartment by extending the cutting tool through the single slot while surgically plunging the cutting tool across at least a portion of the tibia laterally of the central tibial compartment to create at least a portion of a resected surface; wherein the extramedullary tibial alignment guide comprises a distally located ankle clamp and an extramedullary alignment rod extending between and operably connected to the ankle clamp and the cutting guide, the extramedullary alignment rod adapted to extend distally of the cutting guide and be located anteriorly of at least a portion of the anterior cortex of the tibia when the cutting guide is fixed to the tibia and operably interconnected to the extramedullary tibial alignment guide; and a total knee arthroplasty tibial implant configured to be implanted on the resected surface extending across the medial tibial compartment, the central tibial compartment and the lateral tibial compartment.