Patient-Specific Surgical Milling Path Generation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical procedures face challenges in accurately removing hard tissue, such as bone, to create cavities for joint sockets while avoiding adjacent soft tissue.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method generates a milling path for a surgical tool to resect bone material, involving obtaining a bone model, defining a resection volume, generating milling path segments, and creating transition path segments to avoid soft tissue regions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a surgical tool is used to remove bone tissue to create a socket cavity, then the cavity formation is achieved, but there is a risk of damaging adjacent soft tissue
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the surgical procedure into distinct phases: planning phase where the safe zone is defined, and execution phase where the tool follows a constrained path. The milling path is segmented into multiple discrete points that are calculated to remain within the safe zone boundaries, ensuring soft tissue is not damaged while achieving precise cavity formation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary computational model that acts as a mediator between the desired cavity shape and the physical tool path. This model calculates the safe zone by considering tool dimensions, bone geometry, and soft tissue locations, then generates intermediate path points that guide the tool safely through the resection process without direct human judgment during execution
2Adaptability or versatility
If manual surgical techniques are used to remove bone tissue, then flexibility in handling complex geometries is maintained, but precision and consistency are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-calculating the entire milling path before the surgical procedure begins. The system processes the bone model, identifies soft tissue locations, defines the safe zone, and generates all path points in advance. This preliminary computational work enables precise and consistent execution during surgery without requiring real-time manual adjustments
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a digital copy or virtual model of the patient's bone anatomy through imaging and modeling. This virtual representation allows the system to plan and simulate the entire resection process, test different approaches, and optimize the path for precision before applying the procedure to the actual patient, thereby achieving both adaptability to complex geometries and high precision
3Manufacturing precision
If the surgical tool follows a predetermined path to ensure precision, then cavity accuracy is improved, but the ability to respond to unexpected anatomical variations is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a patient-specific safe zone that adapts to the unique anatomical features of each patient. Rather than using a generic predetermined path, the system locally analyzes the bone geometry and soft tissue distribution to define boundaries and generate customized path points that precisely fit the individual patient's anatomy, thereby maintaining both precision and adaptability
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method is provided. The computer-implemented method generates a milling path for a tool of a surgical system, the milling path designed to enable the tool to resect material from a bone, the method including obtaining a model of the bone, intersecting an allowed volume with the model for defining a resection volume intended to be removed from the bone, and generating a plurality of sections. The method also includes, for a section, identifying a sub-volume of the resection volume corresponding to the section; generating milling path segments designed to enable the tool to remove the sub-volume of the resection volume; identifying, for the sub-volume of the resection volume, a region to be avoided by the tool; generating transition path segments designed to avoid the region; and generating the milling path by combining the milling path segments and the transition path segments.