Patently Speaking highlights the technological achievements of Fort Wayne-area residents.
Mobile/Fixed prosthetic knee systems
•U.S. Patent No. 7,740,662
•Invented by: Thomas S. Camino, Fort Wayne; Gary D. Barnett, Wabash; William P. Barrett, Seattle; Steve MacDonald, London, Calif.; Thomas K. Fehring, Charlotte, N.C.; John Bohannon Mason, Charlotte, N.C.; and Stephen A. Hazebrouck, Winona Lake
•Assigned to: DePuy Products Inc., Warsaw
During knee replacement surgery, a surgeon sometimes needs to determine whether the prosthetic knee should just pivot or pivot and rotate.
A problem with knee joints is they are very sophisticated, having the ability to not only pivot back and forth, but also rotate to some degree. The type of injury or disease that affects these joints determines whether the prosthetic knee should have the full knee’s range of movement. Sometimes surrounding ligaments may be damaged to the extent that rotating the prosthetic knee may cause further damage. Unfortunately, sometimes this cannot be determined until surgery. The surgeon would, therefore, have both a hinged and a hinged-and-rotating knee implant at the ready during surgery. The prosthetic knee implanted depends on the nature of the injuries.
This patent describes a prosthetic knee joint that combines the function of hinged-only or hinged with rotation in a single implant. The implant includes a specially designed tibial tray and tibial insert so a bolt can engage both components. With the bolt attached, the knee can only pivot like a hinge. When the bolt is removed, the implant can both pivot and rotate. So instead of needing two different implants at the ready, only one implant is needed.
Methods of making a polymer and ceramic composite
•U.S. Patent No. 7,740,794
•Invented by: Mukesh Kumar, Warsaw
•Assigned to Biomet Sports Medicine, LLC, Warsaw
Critical to orthopedic implants is not only the design of the artificial hip or knee joint, but also the material used to make them. Biocompatible materials come in all forms such as polymers, ceramics and metals. Each of these materials has its own properties and work better in particular environments or applications. For example, a particular part of the implant may need a polymer having good strength characteristics. Another part of the implant may need a ceramic with good wear characteristics.
This patent describes combining the polymer and ceramic particles together. After the polymer and ceramic particles are refined to make them all the same size, the polymer particles are dissolved in a solvent bath. Ceramic particles are then mixed in to form a slurry. The solvent is then extracted from that slurry causing the polymer to precipitate around the ceramic particles. These particles are then dried and blended with other polymer/ceramic blends to create the optimum strength and wear characteristics needed for the particular implant, offering the best of both worlds.
The preceding are lay descriptions of patents obtained from the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s public records and are provided for general information purposes only. Nothing contained herein is a legal description of any claimed invention, identification of novelty, or offer of legal advice. Because issued patents are based on applications often filed years earlier, the subject matter of some patents may have been available on the market for some time prior to the issuance of the patent. Additional information on these patents is available at www.uspto.gov.
