Osteotomy Guide Position Correction via Fiducial Marker Tracking

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods for positioning an osteotomy guide during surgical procedures, such as total knee replacement, suffer from insufficient accuracy and reliability, leading to potential surgical complications.

Innovation Solution

A robotic arm is used to track and adjust the position of an osteotomy guide in real-time, with fiducial markers providing positional feedback to ensure precise alignment, and a system for detecting and correcting deformation in the guide and markers to maintain accuracy.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If existing methods are used for positioning an osteotomy guide during surgical procedures, then the surgical procedure can be performed, but the positioning accuracy is insufficient

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvepositioning accuracyVSAvoidpositioning reliability
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system employs fiducial markers attached to the osteotomy guide that are tracked by a robotic arm in real-time. The robotic arm continuously monitors the position and orientation of the guide through the fiducial markers and provides feedback to adjust and maintain precise positioning throughout the surgical procedure, thereby improving both positioning accuracy and reliability

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces traditional manual mechanical positioning methods with a robotic arm-based tracking system. The robotic arm uses optical or electromagnetic tracking of fiducial markers to determine guide position, substituting manual mechanical alignment with automated robotic positioning that achieves superior accuracy and consistency

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Reliability

If the osteotomy guide needs to maintain accuracy throughout the procedure, then positioning reliability improves, but the guide may undergo deformation

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvepositioning reliabilityVSAvoidguide deformation
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary checking of the osteotomy guide for deformation by tracking the fiducial markers' positions against expected geometric relationships. Before the surgical procedure begins, the robotic arm verifies that the fiducial markers are in their correct relative positions, and during the procedure, it continuously monitors for any deviations that would indicate guide deformation, allowing for early detection and correction

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Productivity

If manual positioning methods are used, then the device complexity is low, but the surgical efficiency decreases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesurgical efficiencyVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The robotic arm system serves multiple functions: it positions the osteotomy guide, tracks its position in real-time through fiducial markers, detects guide deformation by monitoring marker geometry, and provides corrective positioning. This multi-functional integrated system improves surgical efficiency by eliminating the need for separate manual positioning and monitoring steps, despite the increased device complexity

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentEP4014915B1Position correction method of osteotomy guide tool, and orthopedic surgery system
Publication Date: 2024.05.01 SUZHOU MICROPORT ORTHOBOT CO LTD
  • EP4014915B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4014915B1 patent drawingFigure 2~3
  • EP4014915B1 patent drawingFigure 4~6

AI summary

A method of correcting the position of an osteotomy guide (4) and an orthopedic surgery system, in which a guide fiducial marker (3) attached to the osteotomy guide (4) or to a robotic arm (2) tracks the position of the osteotomy guide (4) and generates positional information of the guide fiducial marker (3). Moreover, the robotic arm (2) is controlled to move based on current and desired positions of the guide fiducial marker (3), thus causing the guide fiducial marker (3) to move to the desired position and achieving positioning of the osteotomy guide (4). The method dispenses with the needs for taking into account absolute positional accuracy of the robotic arm (2) and for relying on the surgeon's experience and allows the osteotomy guide (4) to be placed more accurately, resulting in improved positioning accuracy of the osteotomy guide (4). Further, the osteotomy guide (4) has a number of guide features, which capable of providing multiple osteotomy guidance modes. Thus, the single osteotomy guide (4) can support various osteotomy guidance and drilling operations, dispensing with the need to frequently change over from one osteotomy guide (4) to another during surgery. This can greatly shorten the surgery time and improve surgical efficiency.