Surgical instrument to assess tissue characteristics

• US 10,111,646 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2015
• Issued: 10/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Warsaw Orthopedic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Warsaw Orthopedic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Nycz, Jeffrey H., Molz, IV, Fred J., Tethrake, Steven, Olson, Jr., Stanley Warren, Donofrio, William T.
• Primary Examiner(s): FERNANDEZ, KATHERINE L
• Application Number:
  US14/955,985
• Publication Number:
  US 20160081655A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,064 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/1703 using imaging means, e.g. by X-rays
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/56 Surgical instruments or methods for treatment of bones or joints; Devices specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/8805 for introducing fluid filler into bone or extracting it A61B17/7097, A61B17/8833 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4504 Bones A61B5/4547 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4509 Bone density determination
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0875 for diagnosis of bone A61B5/4504 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/12 in body cavities or body tracts, e.g. by using catheters catheters per se A61M25/00
• 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: A61B 8/4472 Wireless probes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4483 characterised by features of the ultrasound transducer
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/483 involving the acquisition of a 3D volume of data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5223 for extracting a diagnostic or physiological parameter from medical diagnostic data for algorithms to analyse biomedical images G06T7/0012

Abstract

A surgical instrument for assessing tissue characteristics such as tissue density and volume is disclosed. The surgical instrument is hand-held and includes transducers adapted for emitting and/or receiving acoustic signals. The surgical instrument utilizes pulse-echo to determine tissue characteristics. The surgical instrument may be utilized to determine such things as the size of a lesion and whether the lesion has been completely removed or filled with graft material.

Claims

1. A method of removing a bone lesion from a bone, the method comprising:

placing a hand-held ultrasonic device at least proximate a surface of the bone lesion, the hand-held ultrasonic device defining a longitudinal axis and including multiple emitting transducers and a dedicated receiving transducer, each of the multiple emitting transducers being configured to emit at least one acoustic signal;

emitting, with each emitting transducer of the multiple emitting transducers, the at least one acoustic signal into the bone lesion, each of the at least one acoustic signals being reflected by a boundary of the bone lesion, each of the reflected acoustic signals defining an echo;

separately detecting, with the dedicated receiving transducer, each of the echoes correlating to each of the at least one acoustic signals;

determining a time delay for each of the detected echoes, each of the time delays being calculated from the time of the emitting of each of the at least one acoustic signals and the detecting of each of the echoes;

assuming a speed for each of the at least one acoustic signals in the bone lesion;

calculating boundaries of the bone lesion by calculating depths thereof based on at least the determining of the time delays and the assumed speeds;

calculating an approximate volume of the bone lesion based on the calculating of the boundaries of the bone lesion and comparing the boundaries to one or more known geometric shapes of known volume; and

based on the calculated approximate volume, debriding the bone lesion to produce a cavity in the bone substantially free of the bone lesion.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising after said debriding, checking whether a portion of the bone lesion remains in the bone with the hand-held ultrasonic device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising removing the portion of the bone lesion that remains in the bone from the bone.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said checking includes checking the presence of materials other than the portion of the bone lesion that remains in the bone.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least partially filling the cavity with a bone cavity filler.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the cavity filler is one of an osteoinductive material, an osteconductive material, autograft bone material, and allograft bone material.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least partially filling the cavity with a conductive substance.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the conductive substance is a saline solution.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the conductive substance is a flowable material packed into the cavity.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the flowable material is a bone growth promoting substance.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one acoustic signal is emitted in a shape, the shape being substantially conical.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one acoustic signal is emitted in a shape, the shape being substantially fan-shaped.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating one of a 3-dimensional image and a 3-dimensional model of the bone lesion in the bone.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein a first emitting transducer of the multiple emitting transducers emits the at least one acoustic signal at a first frequency, and a second emitting transducer of the multiple emitting transducers emits the at least one acoustic signal at a second frequency, the second frequency being different from the first frequency.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one acoustic signal is rotated, by each of the multiple emitting transducers, through a plurality of angles with respect to the longitudinal axis.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising timing each of the at least one acoustic signals emitted by each emitting transducer of the multiple emitting transducers, wherein the dedicated receiving transducer receives each of the separately detected echoes.