Tracker Mount Assembly With Pivot Locking for Surgical Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional adjustable trackers for surgical navigation systems are bulky and pose a risk of obscuring the target site or causing tracking inaccuracies due to large, individually articulable joints, which can bump or jostle against surgical instruments or imaging devices.
Innovation Solution
A mount assembly with a frame, coupler, and anchor system that allows for selective pivoting and translational movement of a navigable tracker, featuring locks to restrict or permit movement in various configurations, ensuring secure attachment and minimal bulk while maintaining tracking accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional adjustable trackers employ large adjustable linkages with individually articulable joints, then the tracker can be positioned in multiple degrees of freedom, but the tracker becomes bulky and may obscure the target site or cause tracking inaccuracies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a nested linkage structure where the second linkage is positioned within or alongside the first linkage, allowing both linkages to contribute to multi-degree-of-freedom positioning while minimizing the overall tracker volume. The guides and anchors are integrated into the linkage structure rather than being separate components, further reducing bulk.
Solution Approach 2:
The tracker is divided into separate modular components: first and second linkages with individual guides and anchors, each contributing to specific degrees of freedom. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function while maintaining overall compactness, rather than requiring a single large articulated structure.
2Adaptability or versatility
If conventional adjustable trackers employ large adjustable linkages with individually articulable joints, then the tracker can be positioned in multiple degrees of freedom, but the joints may bump or jostle against surgical instruments or imaging devices leading to tracking inaccuracies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces guides that constrain the movement paths of the anchors and linkages. These guides act as intermediaries that ensure smooth, controlled motion without direct contact between the articulated joints and external objects like surgical instruments or imaging devices, thereby preventing bumps and jostling that would cause tracking errors.
Solution Approach 2:
The tracker employs dynamically adjustable linkages where the first and second linkages can be independently positioned and locked at various angles. The guides provide dynamic constraints that allow movement during adjustment but prevent unintended movement during tracking, ensuring stability and accuracy once positioned.
3Measurement precision
If trackers are secured to tissue adjacent to the target site, then registration of imaging data with the navigation system is facilitated, but the tracker may interfere with access to the target site from certain approaches
Solution Approach 1:
The mount assembly provides dynamic adjustability allowing the tracker to be positioned in multiple degrees of freedom. Surgeons can adjust the tracker's position and orientation to achieve optimal registration accuracy while simultaneously ensuring that the tracker does not obstruct the surgical approach to the target site. The linkage system allows fine-tuning of the tracker's location relative to both the imaging system and the surgical field.
Data Source
AI summary
A mount assembly for use with a navigable tracker. The mount assembly includes a frame defining a seat, a coupler operatively attached to the frame for releasably securing to the navigable tracker, and a guide defining a bore and arranged in the seat for selective pivoting movement about a pivot point disposed within the bore. An anchor having a shank is arranged for selective sliding engagement with the bore. A guide lock is coupled to the frame and is selectively operable between: a locked configuration to restrict movement of both the anchor and the guide relative to the frame, and a released configuration to simultaneously permit pivoting movement of the anchor relative to the frame about the pivot point and translational movement of the anchor relative to the guide through the bore.