Method of generating a patient-specific bone shell

• US 10,070,960 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2016
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zimmer Incorporated (Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Zimmer Incorporated (Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mahfouz, Mohamed Rashwan
• Primary Examiner(s): WOLDEMARIAM, AKLILU K
• Application Number:
  US15/264,389
• Publication Number:
  US 20170027701A1
• Time in Patent Office: 728 Days
• Field of Search: 382107, 382128, 382129, 382130, 382131, 382132, 382133-143, 600300, 600407, 600409, 600426
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/102 Modelling of surgical devices, implants or prosthesis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/108 Computer aided selection or customisation of medical implants or cutting guides
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/10 Computer-aided planning, simulation or modelling of surgical operations
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4245 involving determining the position of the probe, e.g. with respect to an external reference frame or to the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/3094 Designing or manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/30942 for designing or making customized prostheses, e.g. using templates, CT or NMR scans, finite-element analysis or CAD-CAM techniques
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/3601 for replacing only the epiphyseal or metaphyseal parts of the femur, e.g. endoprosthetic femoral heads or necks directly fixed to the natural femur by internal fixation devices non-prosthetic internal fixation devices for the femoral head or neck A61B17/74
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/38 for elbows or knees
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/3859 Femoral components
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/389 Tibial components A61F2/3868 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/4003 Replacing only the epiphyseal or metaphyseal parts of the humerus, i.e. endoprosthesis not comprising an entire humeral shaft replacing only the epiphyseal or metaphyseal parts of the femur A61F2/3601
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/30943 using mathematical models
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/30948 using computerized tomography, i.e. CT scans
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/3863 Condyles fitted on an anchored base
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/3895 unicompartimental
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/18 for evaluating statistical data , e.g. average values, frequency distributions, probability functions, regression analysis forecasting specially adapted for a specific administrative, business or logistic context G06Q10/04
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/41 Medical
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/50 for simulation or modelling of medical disorders
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 : Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described and illustrated below to encompass methods and devices for designing patient specific prosthetic cutting jigs and, more specifically, to devices and methods for segmenting bone of the knee and the resulting cutting guides themselves. Moreover, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for manufacturing customized surgical devices, more specifically, the present disclosure relates to automated systems and methods of arthroplasty cutting guides, systems and methods for image segmentation in generating computer models of knee joint.

Claims

1. A reconstruction system for generating a patient-specific bone shell representative of at least a portion of a patient'"'"'s bone in its current state, the reconstruction system comprising:

a recognition module configured to receive a plurality of 2D images of a portion of a patient'"'"'s anatomy, the recognition module configured to recognize from the plurality of 2D image slices at least a cartilage segment comprising an enclosed boundary corresponding to an exterior of a portion of the patient'"'"'s cartilage by using a template 3D bone and cartilage shell that is not patient-specific;

a construction module configured to produce and output a 3D image cartilage shell of at least the portion of the patient'"'"'s cartilage by associating the plurality of 2D images of the portion of the patient'"'"'s anatomy based on the recognition of the enclosed boundary of each cartilage segment, where the 3D image cartilage shell depicts a current state of the patient'"'"'s cartilage.

2. The reconstruction system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of 2D images are computed tomography images.

3. The reconstruction system of claim 1, wherein the 3D image cartilage shell is representative of cartilage of at least one bone selected from the group consisting of:

a femur, a tibia, and a humerus.

4. The reconstruction system of claim 1, further comprising a generation module configured to generate a 3D image surgical jig configured to mate at least with said 3D image cartilage shell, where the 3D image surgical jig includes topographical features customized at least to the exterior features of the 3D image cartilage shell.

5. The reconstruction system of claim 4, wherein the generation module is configured to output an instruction file for fabricating a surgical jig having tangible topographical features of the 3D image surgical jig.

6. The reconstruction system of claim 1, wherein the recognition module is configured to recognize the outline of cartilage appearing in at least one of said 2D images by determining cartilage thickness using statistical shape atlases and/or Bayesian inversion probabilities.

7. The reconstruction system of claim 1, wherein the recognition module is configured to enable interactive intervention for at least one action selected from the group consisting of:

contour adding, contour subtracting, and contour painting.

8. The reconstruction system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of 2D images is orthogonal to an axis extending through the patient'"'"'s anatomy.

9. The reconstruction system of claim 1, wherein the template 3D image bone and cartilage shell that is not patient-specific is obtained from a library of bone models.

10. A method comprising:

accessing, using one or more processors within a computing system, a plurality of 2D images of a patient'"'"'s anatomy;

recognizing, at least in part using the one or more processors within the computing system, a plurality of enclosed boundaries of cartilage segments within at least a portion of the plurality of 2D images by using a template 3D image bone and cartilage shell that is not patient-specific;

generating, using the one or more processors within the computing system, a 3D image cartilage shell representing at least a portion of the patient'"'"'s anatomy based at least in part on the plurality of enclosed boundaries of cartilage segments; and

outputting, using the one or more processors within the computing system, the 3D image cartilage shell.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein accessing a plurality of images comprises accessing 2D images depicting a slice through the patient'"'"'s anatomy orthogonal to an axis extending through the patient'"'"'s anatomy.

12. The method according to claim 10, where recognizing the plurality of enclosed boundaries includes using a template 3D image bone and cartilage shell.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein using the template 3D image bone and cartilage shell includes obtaining or generating template 3D image bone and cartilage shell from a statistical atlas of bone contours including cartilage.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein obtaining or generating the template 3D image bone and cartilage shell from the statistical atlas of bone contours includes using the statistical atlas of bone contours generated from a database of 3D bone and cartilage models.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein outputting the 3D image cartilage shell includes displaying the 3D image cartilage shell on a display screen coupled to the computing system.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein outputting the 3D image cartilage shell includes generating an instruction file for use in fabricating a surgical jig including topographical features mirroring at least a portion of the 3D image cartilage shell.

17. The method according to claim 10, wherein using the template 3D image bone and cartilage shell that is not patient-specific includes obtaining the template 3D image bone and cartilage shell that is not patient-specific from a library of bone models.