Miniature bone-attached surgical robot

Abstract

A miniature surgical robot and a method for using it are disclosed. The miniature surgical robot attaches directly with the bone of a patient. Two-dimensional X-ray images of the robot on the bone are registered with three-dimensional images of the bone. This locates the robot precisely on the bone of the patient. The robot is then directed to pre-operative determined positions based on a pre-operative plan by the surgeon. The robot then moves to the requested surgical site and aligns a sleeve through which the surgeon can insert a surgical tool.

Description

[0001] This Application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09 / 912,687, which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 220,155, filed Jul. 24, 2000. The contents of both the above applications have been incorporated herein by reference.TECHNICAL FIELD [0002] The present invention relates to a robotic device. Particularly, this invention relates to a robotic device that attaches to a bone of the patient and aids or performs surgical procedures. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Generally, robots are used in many different industries for many different applications. One industry, for example, is the medical industry that uses robots in applications including assisting the surgeon during surgical procedures. Robots are especially suited for some surgical tasks because they can be constructed to be very steady, computer controlled, and precise in their movements. Characteristics such as these can be especially helpful during surgery on sensiti...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] The present invention also includes a method for using the robot to assist in surgical procedures. Initially, three dimensional images are taken of the patient and the surgeon performs pre-operative planning of the procedure to be done on the images. This creates parameters that will later be used to direct the robot to the location where the surgical procedure is required. The robot is then attached to the patient by the clamp or the k-wire. C-arm images are taken of the patient with the attached clamp and these images are co-registered and calibrated such that a precise image of the bone with the robot attached is generated. This image is then registered, or matched, with the three dimensional image. This is accomplished in a highly efficient and accurate manner by taking small windows of the images where the surgery is to take place and registering these small portions. The small windows are chosen off the images by locating the bone attached clamp and selecting a window according to pre-operative calculation of the bone-robot attachment location. After these windows are chosen and registered, the remaining bone is registered by aligning the registered windows. At this point the robot is located precisely on the bone of the patient in the three dimensional image and can be manipulated by the surgeon to a pre-operative planned location for percutaneous insertion of surgical tools, medical devices, or implants.

Problems solved by technology

These procedures typically require a large invasive operation that exposes the patient to a high risk of infection, excessive trauma, fluid loss, post operative pain, scaring, and a lengthy recovery time.

Some difficulties relating to surgery on the vertebral column include micro-movement of the vertebral column during the operation, inherently small target objects of the procedure such as the pedicles, extremely delicate nearby nerve tissue, and limited operating room space because large equipment is needed to aid in the procedure, such as C-arm X-ray devices.

Furthermore, the patient and operating room staff are exposed to large doses of radiation because these procedures require repeated X-raying and / or fluoroscoping of the surgical site so the surgeon can view the position of surgical tools or implants relative to non-visible body parts.

Some prior art devices have attempted to accomplish this however, these devices are either too complicated, not sufficiently accurate, or consume too much operating room space.

While the device disclosed in the '548 patent offers some advantages in terms of accuracy and reduced trauma, the advantages of this type of prior art device are limited.

These can not be tracked with such prior art systems.

This causes inaccuracy and errors that can not be tolerated in spinal surgery or other high accuracy procedures where the smallest error can result in a serious and permanent outcome.

Also, prior art devices such as these are hand held by the surgeon and thus, limited in accuracy to the surgeon's ability to hold and align the tool.

This can severely limit the ability of the surgeon or surgical team as the tool may actually limit their ability to aid the patient.

Also, while such prior art systems do reduce the incision size, they complicate the surgical procedure.

Finally, this system has many components, such as the navigation system and the computer output unit, that clutter up the already limited space in the surgical suite.

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