Patient-Specific Spinal Fixation Planning for Precise Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional spinal implant solutions often involve standard sizes and shapes that fail to account for individual patient-specific anatomical variations, leading to suboptimal surgical outcomes and potential misalignment during spinal fusion procedures.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for designing patient-specific implant systems, including spinal rods and anchor assemblies, using a surgery manager system that overlays virtual models onto patient images, allowing real-time modification and simulation of implant positions to achieve desired spinal alignment and biomechanics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If standard-sized implants are used, then manufacturing and inventory management are simplified, but surgical precision and patient-specific anatomical fit deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables dynamic modification of implant parameters (size, shape, curvature) through software control, allowing transition from standard to custom specifications without changing the manufacturing process fundamentally. The virtual implant model parameters can be adjusted to match patient-specific anatomy while maintaining compatibility with standard manufacturing and implantation procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates virtual copies of implants in a digital environment where precise patient-specific geometries can be designed and tested. These virtual models serve as templates that guide the selection and customization of physical implants, enabling precision planning without requiring complex custom manufacturing for every case.
2Manufacturing precision
If patient-specific custom implants are designed, then surgical accuracy and anatomical fit are improved, but device complexity and design time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The software system serves multiple functions: it visualizes patient anatomy, designs custom implants, simulates surgical outcomes, and generates implantation guides. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require multiple separate tools and processes into a single integrated platform, managing complexity through consolidation rather than multiplication of components.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces complex manual measurement, calculation, and planning procedures with automated computer-based algorithms. The software automatically processes medical images, calculates optimal implant parameters, and generates design specifications, substituting mechanical and manual operations with computational processes that reduce human error and streamline the design workflow.
3Productivity
If conventional standard implants are used, then surgical procedure time is reduced, but surgical outcomes and alignment accuracy deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs comprehensive implant design, sizing, and positioning planning before the actual surgical procedure. Virtual implantation and outcome simulation are completed in advance, allowing surgeons to proceed with confidence during surgery without time-consuming intraoperative adjustments. The preliminary digital planning phase captures the complexity work, enabling faster execution during the actual surgical intervention.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for designing and implementing patient-specific surgical procedures and/or medical devices are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method includes selecting a design process protocol for designing a patient-specific implant system based on a target correction for a patient. The patient-specific implant system can select a set of parameters for designing each component of the patient-specific implant system based on patient anatomy and the correction for the patient. An implant designer graphical user interface (GUI) can display the set of parameters for the design process protocol, values for the respective parameters, and a planned anatomy of the patient. The patient-specific implant system can generate a design for a group of patient-specific implants such that the patient-specific implants cooperate to provide anatomical correction to the patient based on the target anatomical correction.