Bone Position Tracking System for Deformity Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
External fixation devices face challenges in accurately tracking the position and orientation of bone fragments during deformity correction due to errors from incorrect adjustments, deformation of components, and human error, making it difficult to ensure precise movement according to the planned deformity correction plan.
Innovation Solution
An external fixation system with tracking devices connected to bone fragments that transmit location data to a receiver, allowing for real-time monitoring and adjustment of the deformity correction plan to align bone fragments accurately, using wireless communication and processors to determine and compare actual positions to planned positions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If external fixation devices are used to correct skeletal deformities, then bone fragments can be moved along six separate axes, but errors occur between planned movements and actual movements due to incorrect adjustments, deformation of components, and human error
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs tracking devices attached to bone fragments that continuously monitor actual positions and orientations, providing real-time feedback data. This feedback is processed to compare actual movements against planned movements, enabling detection and correction of deviations caused by component deformation or adjustment errors, thereby maintaining high reliability alongside full six-degree-of-freedom mobility
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces purely mechanical alignment methods with a hybrid system incorporating electromagnetic or optical tracking technology. Instead of relying solely on mechanical precision of pins and wires, the system uses field-based tracking (electromagnetic or optical fields) to monitor bone fragment positions, substituting mechanical measurement with more accurate and deformation-resistant field-based detection
2Ease of operation
If markings are placed on struts to indicate length changes, then visual monitoring is possible, but it is difficult to correlate strut length change with actual bone fragment position and orientation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces tracking devices as intermediary elements that directly attach to bone fragments rather than relying on indirect measurements from strut markings. These tracking devices serve as mediators between the bone fragments and the monitoring system, providing direct positional and orientational data that accurately reflects actual bone fragment status without requiring correlation calculations from component measurements
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a digital copy or virtual model of the bone fragment positions and orientations through tracking devices. This digital representation accurately mirrors the physical bone fragment status, allowing precise monitoring and comparison with the planned deformity correction trajectory, thereby achieving high measurement precision while maintaining ease of digital operation and analysis
Data Source
AI summary
A method of correcting a bone deformity includes fixing first and second support members to first and second fragments of a bone, respectively. The first support member may have a receiver connected thereto. First and second tracking devices are connected to the first and second bone fragments, respectively. A deformity correction plan is determined, and a position of the first support member is adjusted relative to the second support member based on the plan. Location data is transmitted from the first and second trackers to the receiver. Based on the tracker location data, a real position of the first and second bone fragments is determined. The real position of the first and second bone fragment is compared to the deformity correction plan, and the deformity correction plan is reprogrammed based on the comparison. The first and second support members may then be adjusted based on the reprogrammed deformity correction plan.