Patient-Specific Reference Guide for Automatic Registration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical technologies face challenges in accurately and efficiently preparing bones for arthroplasty procedures without the need for intraoperative registration or computer-aided navigation, which can complicate and prolong surgeries.
Innovation Solution
A numerically controlled instrument with a patient-specific reference guide that is preoperatively designed to mate uniquely with a patient's bone surface, allowing automatic registration and guiding a cutting tool along a pre-determined tool path for precise bone preparation without intraoperative navigation aids.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If intraoperative registration or computer-aided navigation is used, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and surgical time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The reference guide is designed and manufactured before surgery based on preoperative imaging data. The patient-specific three-dimensional inner surface is pre-configured to mirror and mate with the patient's bone surface, eliminating the need for intraoperative registration procedures and complex navigation systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The reference guide creates a physical copy or replica of the patient's bone surface geometry. By mirroring the unique three-dimensional surface features of the patient's bone, the guide enables direct mechanical registration without requiring complex electronic navigation systems or additional registration markers.
2Measurement precision
If intraoperative registration or computer-aided navigation is used, then measurement precision is improved, but loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
All registration-related preparations are completed before surgery. The reference guide is manufactured in advance with the exact three-dimensional geometry matched to the patient's bone, allowing for immediate application during surgery without time-consuming registration procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The registration function is extracted from the surgical procedure itself and incorporated into the reference guide before surgery. This removes the need for intraoperative registration steps, directly reducing surgical time while maintaining precision.
3Ease of operation
If a patient-specific reference guide is used, then ease of operation is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The complex manufacturing process is performed before surgery using preoperative imaging data. Once manufactured, the reference guide provides simple, intuitive alignment during surgery through its patient-specific three-dimensional surface that naturally mates with the bone, requiring no complex intraoperative adjustments.
Solution Approach 2:
The complex electronic navigation and mechanical registration systems are replaced with a simple mechanical mating interface. The reference guide's three-dimensional inner surface directly mirrors the bone surface geometry, creating an intuitive mechanical alignment system that is easy to operate despite sophisticated manufacturing requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for preparing a bone of a joint of a patient includes mounting a patient-specific reference guide on a bone of a joint of a patient. A connecting portion of the reference guide is coupled to a miniaturized numerically controlled instrument having a housing including a controller, a processor and a tool driver. The patient-specific reference guide has a three-dimensional inner surface preoperatively configured to mirror and mate with a corresponding surface of a bone of a joint of a patient in only one position. The patient-specific reference guide is configured to automatically register the numerically controlled instrument to the patient's bone portion intraoperatively. The cutting tool is guided by the controlled with signals from the processor along a patient-specific tool path determined during the preoperative plan for preparing a portion of the bone.