Implant Positioning System for Bone Contact Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current osteosynthesis implant positioning techniques rely heavily on operator spatial imagination and manual skill, leading to sub-optimal implant placement and increased risks of delayed bone healing and loosening, as existing computer-assisted navigation methods often result in insufficient full-surface contact between implants and bone surfaces.
Innovation Solution
A trackable device with a bone contact surface, matched to the implant's surface, is used in conjunction with a navigation system to calculate and visualize the spatially correct position of implant parts, allowing for maximum contact surface alignment and geometric correction, using data from intraoperative images or geometric data to guide the device's placement on the bone.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If computer-assisted navigation methods are used to plan implant position, then surgical planning capability is improved, but full-surface contact between implant and bone is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The method performs preliminary action by creating a virtual model of the implant position before actual surgery, allowing the operator to plan and optimize the implant position in advance. The virtual implant is positioned on the virtual bone surface and its contact surface is calculated and displayed, enabling pre-surgical optimization of full-surface contact before the actual implantation occurs.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses copying by creating a virtual copy of the implant and bone structures from CT data. The virtual implant model is placed on the virtual bone surface, and the contact surface between them is calculated and displayed. This virtual copying allows for accurate planning and visualization of the implant-bone contact without requiring the actual physical implant to be present during planning.
2Ease of operation
If operator spatial imagination and manual skill are used for implant positioning, then operational flexibility is maintained, but implant placement accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual model copying technique creates an accurate digital representation of the patient's bone anatomy and the implant. This virtual copy allows the operator to manipulate and position the implant in the virtual environment with high precision, eliminating the need for complex spatial imagination while maintaining operational flexibility. The virtual feedback provides real-time information about implant position and bone contact.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the mechanical system of manual spatial estimation and physical trial-and-error with a computer-based virtual modeling system. The navigation computer calculates and displays the virtual implant position and contact surface area, substituting the operator's spatial imagination with automated computational geometry and providing objective visual feedback for precise positioning.
3Productivity
If virtual implant positioning is performed without full surface contact calculation, then planning speed is improved, but contact surface accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces complex manual calculations of contact surface area with automated computer-based geometric calculations. The navigation computer automatically calculates the contact surface between the virtual implant and virtual bone surface using computational geometry algorithms, providing accurate contact surface area measurements without requiring time-consuming manual measurements or approximations.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual copying of both the implant and bone structures enables automated calculation of their contact surface. By having accurate virtual models of both objects, the system can computationally determine the contact area between them, providing precise contact surface accuracy while maintaining planning efficiency through automated processing rather than manual measurement.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to an implant layer positioning system comprising a device that can be fixed to a bone section and is used to plan the positioning of implants in order to enable corrective operations to be performed on the bone with optimum bone contact. Said device reproduces the geometry of at least one section of the implant and can be freely oriented by the operator towards accessible parts of the bone. The inventive system also comprises a control unit which virtually evaluates the relevant implant parts, on the basis of the navigation data of the tracked device and the data input of the planned corrective operation, in the form of three-dimensional geometry bodies in fluoroscopy sketches or other referenced image or geometry data. Once the planned proceedings have been inputted, the control unit of the navigation system can virtually merge the corresponding position of all implant parts with the referenced image or geometry data of the patient in a three-dimensional manner by means of corresponding computational algorithms, and once the device has been oriented, the control unit can store the position of said device with all related dependent positions of the implant parts planned at the same time, and all of the planning information can be made available for use with navigated tools.