SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SURGICAL NAVIGATION CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

• US 20070167744A1
• Filed: 12/21/2006
• Published: 07/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Anderson, Peter, Schiff, Jonathan, Groszmann, Daniel, Sampathkumar, Raguraman, Beauregard, Gerald
• Application Number:
  US11/614,680
• Publication Number:
  US 20070167744A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/424
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2051 Electromagnetic tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/10 Computer-aided planning, simulation or modelling of surgical operations
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/20 Surgical navigation systems; Devices for tracking or guiding surgical instruments, e.g. for frameless stereotaxis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/36 Image-producing devices or illumination devices not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/37 Surgical systems with images on a monitor during operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors

Abstract

An integrated medical navigation system for use with at least one electromagnetic sensor and at least one device that may comprise at least one electromagnetic field generator coupled to the at least one device, a navigation interface configured to receive digitized signals from the at least one electromagnetic sensor, a tracker module configured to determine a location of the at least one device based on the received digitized signals, and a navigation module configured to receive the location determined by the tracking module, and register the location to acquired patient image data.

Claims

1. An integrated medical navigation system for use with at least one electromagnetic sensor and at least one device comprising:

at least one electromagnetic field generator coupled to the at least one device;

a navigation interface configured to receive digitized signals from at least one electromagnetic sensor;

a tracker module configured to determine a location of the at least one device based on the received digitized signals; and

a navigation module configured to receive the location determined by the tracking module, and register the location to acquired patient image data.

2. The medical navigation system of claim 1, wherein the navigation interface is a wired interface.

3. The medical navigation system of claim 2, wherein the wired interface is an Ethernet port.

4. The medical navigation system of claim 1, wherein the navigation interface is a wireless interface.

5. The medical navigation system of claim 4, wherein the wireless interface is an IEEE 802.11 compatible interface.

6. The medical navigation system of claim 1, wherein the acquired patient image data is selected from the group consisting of computed tomography data, magnetic resonance data, positron emission tomography data, ultrasound data, and X-ray data and any combinations thereof.

7. A portable medical navigation system for use with at least one electromagnetic sensor and at least one device comprising:

a portable computer having a small footprint;

a navigation interface housed in the portable computer and configured to receive digitized signals from at least one electromagnetic sensor;

at least one electromagnetic field generator coupled to the at least one device;

a tracker module configured to determine a location of the at least one device based on the received digitized signals; and

a navigation module configured to receive the location determined by the tracker module, and register the location to acquired patient image data.

8. The medical navigation system of claim 7, further comprising at least one display to visualize the patient image data and a representation of the at least one device.

9. The medical navigation system of claim 8, wherein the at least one display is mounted on a surgical boom.

10. The medical navigation system of claim 8, wherein the at least one display is mounted on a portable cart.

11. The medical navigation system of claim 7, wherein the navigation interface is a wired interface.

12. The medical navigation system of claim 11, wherein the wired interface is an Ethernet port.

13. The medical navigation system of claim 7, wherein the navigation interface is a wireless interface.

14. The medical navigation system of claim 13, wherein the wireless interface is an IEEE 802.11 compatible interface.

15. The medical navigation system of claim 7, wherein the acquired patient image data is selected from the group consisting of computed tomography data, magnetic resonance data, positron emission tomography data, ultrasound data, and X-ray data and any combinations thereof.

16. The medical navigation system of claim 7, wherein the at least one device comprises a surgical instrument selected from the group consisting of a catheter, a guidewire, a debrider, an aspirator, and any combinations thereof.

17. The medical navigation system of claim 7, wherein the at least one device comprises a surgical implant.

18. The medical navigation system of claim 17, wherein the surgical implant is selected from the group consisting of an artificial disk, a bone screw, a shunt, a pedicle screw, a plate, and any combinations thereof.

19. A method for operating a medical navigation system with at least one electromagnetic sensor and at least one device, the method comprising:

receiving digitized signals from at least one electromagnetic sensor through an interface;

determining a location of at least one device based on the received digitized signals; and

registering the location to acquired patient image data.

20. A machine-readable storage medium holding code for performing the method according to claim 19.

21. A portable medical navigation system for use with at least one electromagnetic sensor and at least one device comprising:

a portable computer having a small footprint;

a navigation interface housed in the portable computer and configured to receive digitized signals from at least one electromagnetic sensor;

at least one electromagnetic field generator coupled to the at least one device;

a first processor housed in the portable computer and configured to determine a location of at least one device based on the received digitized signals; and

a second processor housed in the portable computer and configured to receive the location determined by the first processor over a local interface, and register the location to acquired patient image data.

22. The medical navigation system of claim 21, wherein the local interface is a PCI bus.

23. The medical navigation system of claim 21, wherein the local interface is a PCI Express bus.

24. The medical navigation system of claim 21, further comprising at least one display to visualize the patient image data and a representation of the at least one device.

25. The medical navigation system of claim 21, wherein the portable computer is mounted on a portable cart.

26. The medical navigation system of claim 21, wherein the navigation interface is a wired interface.

27. The medical navigation system of claim 21, wherein the navigation interface is a wireless interface.