Surgical Visualization System for Tissue Stabilization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical systems face challenges in accurately stabilizing tissue, especially in complex procedures like comminuted fractures and periprosthetic fractures, due to difficulties in navigating and visualizing fixation approaches without excessive radiation exposure or large incisions.
Innovation Solution
A surgical system that uses patient-specific imaging data to generate a virtual reference frame, displaying viable and non-viable fixation approaches overlaid onto the patient's anatomy, allowing surgeons to visualize and select optimal fixation methods using a localizer and display units, thereby enhancing precision and reducing radiation exposure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If fluoroscopy is used to visualize tissue and surgical tools at the target site in near real-time, then the surgeon can see unexposed portions of the target site without making large incisions, but the patient is exposed to excessive radiation
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by generating a three-dimensional patient-specific anatomical model from preoperative imaging data before the surgical procedure. This pre-built virtual model allows the surgeon to visualize the target site and plan fixation approaches without needing continuous fluoroscopy during surgery, thereby reducing radiation exposure while maintaining visualization capability
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a virtual copy of the patient's anatomy through three-dimensional modeling from imaging data. This digital twin or virtual model serves as a substitute for real-time fluoroscopic imaging, allowing the surgeon to visualize anatomical structures and surgical tools in a radiation-free environment while making the same decisions as would be made using fluoroscopy
2Reliability
If conventional surgical tools and methods are used for tissue stabilization, then the surgeon can secure bone portions with anchors, screws, and plates, but the surgeon cannot accurately visualize unexposed portions of the target site or determine viable fixation approaches
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from two-dimensional fluoroscopic images to a three-dimensional virtual anatomical model. This dimensional enhancement provides the surgeon with comprehensive spatial information about the target site and potential fixation approaches, eliminating the need to mentally reconstruct anatomy from limited 2D views and enabling accurate visualization of unexposed portions and multiple fixation options simultaneously
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces a computing device with visualization software as an intermediary between the surgeon and the patient's anatomy. This intermediary processes preoperative imaging data to generate three-dimensional models and overlays virtual surgical tools, providing the surgeon with enhanced information about viable fixation approaches without requiring direct visual access to all anatomical structures during surgery
Data Source
AI summary
A system for treating tissue of a patient's anatomy at a target site. A localizer generates location data associated with the anatomy. A display unit overlays visual content on the anatomy within a field of view observable by a user. A visualization program on a computing device generates a virtual reference frame, identifies viable and non-viable approaches for fixation elements to engage tissue and secure a stabilizer relative to the target site based on patient-specific imaging data, arranges a virtual viability model within the virtual reference frame based on the location data and comprising viable portions associated with viable approaches and non-viable portions associated with non-viable approaches, and renders the virtual viability model in the visual content displayed by the display unit overlaid onto the anatomy within the field of view to assist the user in visualizing at least one of viable approaches and non-viable approaches.