Surgical Hub Context Analysis for Real-Time Instrument Adjustment

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current surgical systems lack efficient methods for deriving contextual information about surgical procedures and tissues during operations, leading to suboptimal control of surgical instruments and potential errors.

Innovation Solution

A computer-implemented system that uses perioperative data and image analysis to determine the surgical context, allowing for real-time inference of the surgical procedure and tissue type, thereby optimizing the control of modular surgical devices.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If surgical systems use generic control methods without contextual analysis, then device operation is simplified, but surgical accuracy and outcomes deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesurgical accuracyVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system continuously captures perioperative data from surgical devices and camera feeds, analyzes this data against baseline characteristics stored in memory, and provides real-time feedback by adjusting device control parameters. This closed-loop feedback mechanism enables dynamic adaptation to surgical context, improving accuracy without requiring complex manual intervention.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The surgical system performs self-adjustment by automatically analyzing perioperative data and baseline characteristics to determine optimal device settings. The system serves itself by autonomously modifying control parameters based on real-time surgical context analysis, eliminating the need for constant manual calibration while maintaining high surgical accuracy.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

2Loss of information

If surgical systems collect and analyze detailed perioperative data, then surgical context understanding improves, but data processing time and computational resources increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontext information completenessVSAvoiddata processing time
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system pre-processes and stores baseline physical characteristics and surgical context data in memory before procedures begin. By preparing reference data in advance, the system enables rapid real-time comparison during surgery without requiring extensive computational resources or processing time, thus maintaining complete context information while minimizing data processing delays.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Adaptability or versatility

If surgical devices operate without real-time context adjustment, then device reliability is maintained, but adaptability to specific surgical situations deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontext adaptabilityVSAvoiddevice reliability
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system dynamically adjusts device control parameters based on real-time analysis of perioperative data and baseline characteristics. By continuously adapting device settings to match the specific surgical context, the system achieves both high adaptability to varying surgical situations and maintained reliability through data-driven decision-making rather than static pre-programmed responses.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentEP3506302B1Usage and technique analysis of surgeon / staff performance against a baseline to optimize device utilization and performance for both current and future procedures
Publication Date: 2024.11.20 ETHICON INC
  • EP3506302B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3506302B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3506302B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

Various systems and methods for evaluating a surgical staff are disclosed. A computer system, such as a surgical hub, can be configured to be communicably coupled to a surgical device and a camera. The computer system can be programmed to determine contextual information pertaining to a surgical procedure based at least in part on perioperative data received from the surgical device during a surgical procedure. Further, the computer system can visually determine a physical characteristic of a surgical staff member via the camera and compare the physical characteristic to a baseline to evaluate the surgical staff member.