Design of an ankle implant using design for assembly (DFA) principles

Current ankle implant designs have shown significant improvements in last ten years. However, failure rates are still high and about 30% of patients ended up with fusion joint or lower leg amputation after ten years of first operations because of long term associated pain. A new ankle joint implant presenting in this study (Vo-ankle implant) was designed to base on the Design for Assembly (DFA) principles to optimize the device biomechanically. It overcomes most of problems shown in current ankle implants. The new ankle implant has four major advantages over the current models. First, the new ankle constructed to distribute loads evenly on the joint implant with variable axes of motion. Second, the implantation requires much less bone resection. Third, the new ankle design has a simpler and easier technique to implant. Lastly, the new ankle design employs one joint intact operation same as that of a true ankle joint.