| abstract |
Surface irregularities are removed from the inner wall of a femur cavity, preferably tapered. A tamp having an opening and a socket is disposed in the cavity. The tamp may be one of a plurality of tamps each having a different length for the opening. A guide, one of a plurality, fits snugly in the opening. The guide has a collar which cooperates with the tamp socket to limit the movement of the guide into the tamp. A working portion of each guide below the intermediate position has a bulbous shape which is tapered in accordance with the femur taper. Bone fragments between the guide working portion and the femur inner wall are packed against the inner wall when the tamp and the guide are driven into the femur cavity. Numerals on the guide adjacent a slot in the tamp indicate the disposition of the guide in the tamp. Guides with working portions of progressively increasing lengths are disposed sequentially in progressive ones of the tamps to pack fragments at an increasing height in the femur cavity against the cavity inner wall. When the last one of the tamps and the last one of the guides have been removed from the cavity, a prosthesis having dimensions slightly less than the femur cavity dimensions is disposed in the cavity. A binder disposed in the cavity in the space between the inner wall of the femur cavity and the prosthesis binds the prosthesis to the femur. In one embodiment, the tamp socket is an opening and the guide collar fits into the tamp opening to limit the movement of the guide into the tamp. In a modification, the tamp socket is disposed in a press fit on the guide collar to limit the movement of the guide into the tamp. |