1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to orthopaedic prostheses and, specifically, to articular tibial components in a knee prosthesis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Orthopaedic prostheses are commonly utilized to repair and/or replace damaged bone and tissue in the human body. For a damaged knee, a knee prosthesis may be implanted using a tibial baseplate, a tibial bearing component, and a distal femoral component. The tibial baseplate is affixed to a proximal end of the patient's tibia, which is typically resected to accept the baseplate. The femoral component is implanted on a distal end of the patient's femur, which is also typically resected to accept the femoral component. The tibial bearing component is placed between the tibial baseplate and femoral component, and may be fixed upon or slidably coupled to the tibial baseplate.
The tibial bearing component, which may also be referred to as a tibial insert or meniscal component, provides an articular surface which interacts with the adjacent femur or femoral component during extension and flexion of the knee. The features and geometry of the articular surface influences the articular characteristics of the knee, such as by defining maximum knee flexion, internal/external rotation, femoral rollback, and behavior of the knee prosthesis in hyperextension, for example. Accordingly, substantial design efforts have previously focused on providing knee prosthesis components which preserve flexion range and promote a desired kinematic motion profile for the widest possible range of prospective knee replacement patients.