Surgical systems with intra-operative 3D scanners and surgical methods using the same

Inventors

Meftah, Morteza • Benimovich, Irina

Assignees

Caira Surgical Corp

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure include surgical systems that provide a cost-effective, accurate, and efficient system for performing surgical procedures. In one aspect of the disclosure, a surgical system utilizes an intra-operative 3D scanner that can be used to determine anatomical landmarks and calculate surgical positions based on such anatomical landmarks. In some examples, aspects of the present disclosure also include providing guidance information for guiding the placement of a surgical instrument according to the calculated surgical positions.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to an open-platform arthroplasty surgical system and method that performs intra-operative scanning of exposed bone surface and cartilage surface in an anatomical region of interest. The method uses an intra-operative 3D scanner to scan selected landmarks of at least one of the bone or cartilage surfaces and generates a 3D image from data generated during scanning. The processor identifies one or more anatomical landmarks in the 3D image on at least one of the bone and cartilage surfaces.

The method automatically registers the identified anatomical landmarks to at least one of pre-operative images or a machine learning database of images. Based on the identified anatomical landmarks, the processor calculates a plurality of surgical positions and generates guidance information for guiding the surgical procedure. The guidance information is used for positioning a bone cutting jig proximate the bone surface.

The bone cutting jig is fixed to a bone proximate the bone surface. An image capture device captures a plurality of images of the bone cutting jig provisionally fixed to the bone as the bone cutting jig and the region of anatomical interest are moved, and the processor determines positions of the bone cutting jig from the plurality of images. From the determined positions, the processor calculates a mechanical axis of a bone.

Claims Coverage

The disclosed claims include one independent claim directed to an arthroplasty method and multiple dependent claims refining scanner types, landmark identification, guidance modalities, knee-specific steps, and excluding tracker-fixed-to-bone use. The independent claim covers a full workflow from intra-operative landmark scanning and 3D image generation through automatic registration, surgical position calculation, guidance generation, bone cutting jig placement and fixing, image capture for jig position determination, and mechanical axis calculation.

Overall, the independent claim centers on automatically registering intra-operatively identified anatomical landmarks from a 3D image to pre-operative images or a machine learning database, calculating surgical positions and guidance information, using that guidance for bone cutting jig positioning and fixation, capturing images during movement to determine jig positions, and calculating a mechanical axis from the determined jig positions. Dependent claims refine the 3D scanner to laser/white light/blue light, specify machine learning database comparison for landmark identification, add hologram projection modalities, narrow to knee-specific cut and soft-tissue balance determination using varus/valgus imaging, and exclude trackers fixed to bone for data collection, calibration, or navigation.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications