Navigation-Assisted Surgery Offset Monitoring With Tool-to-Bone Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional surgical navigation systems lack effective methods to monitor and correct for offsets during navigation-assisted surgery, particularly when not using a robotic manipulator, leading to potential improper placement of surgical instruments relative to anatomy.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilize a navigation system with a localizer and trackers for the surgical instrument and patient anatomy, allowing for real-time monitoring of the instrument's position and motor operation relative to the bone, and triggering actions when errors or excessive offsets are detected.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If conventional surgical navigation systems are used without robotic manipulators, then the surgical procedure can be performed with simpler equipment, but the system lacks effective methods to monitor and correct for offsets leading to improper instrument placement
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors the actual position of the surgical instrument using trackers and localizers, compares it with the planned trajectory, and provides real-time feedback to the surgeon through visual displays. This closed-loop feedback mechanism enables offset detection and correction without requiring robotic manipulators, thus maintaining equipment simplicity while improving placement accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical control system of robotic manipulators with a computational approach. Instead of using robotic arms to physically guide the instrument, the system uses computer-based navigation, tracking, and offset calculation to provide guidance information to the surgeon, substituting mechanical automation with information-based guidance.
2Measurement precision
If real-time monitoring of instrument position is implemented, then offset detection capability is improved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The navigation system performs multiple functions using a single integrated platform: it tracks instrument position, calculates offsets, displays guidance information, and monitors surgical progress. By combining these functions into one universal system rather than separate dedicated devices, the patent achieves high measurement precision while limiting the increase in overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces trackers and localizers as intermediary elements that facilitate precise measurement without adding significant complexity. These intermediaries act as mediators between the physical instrument and the computational system, enabling accurate offset detection through standardized tracking technologies that integrate seamlessly with existing surgical workflows.
Data Source
AI summary
Surgical systems and methods for tracking physical objects near a target site during a surgical procedure are provided, the surgical system employs a navigation system and a surgical instrument; an instrument tracker is provided on the surgical instrument and a patient tracker is provided on the patient's target tissue; the system and method is configured to detect an error condition compromising accuracy of the navigation guidance and to track and monitor a tool-to-bone offset.