SURGICAL PLANNING SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20130018666A1
• Filed: 09/02/2011
• Published: 01/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: STEPHEN B. MURPHY
• Original Assignee: Jens Horst Kowal, M.D. Stephen B. Murphy
• Inventors: Murphy, Stephen B., Kowal, Jens Horst
• Granted Patent: US 10,540,479 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/58 for osteosynthesis, e.g. bone plates, screws , setting implements or the like A61B17/14, A61B17/16 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/60 for external osteosynthesis, e.g. distractors, contractors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/00 Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment instruments measuring radiation intensity for application in the field of nuclear medicine, e.g. in vivo counting, G01T1/161; apparatus for taking X-ray photographs G03B42/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/40 relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS

Abstract

A system and method receive a request for a patient-specific surgical plan, create the requested plan, and provide it to a surgeon. A Planning server may receive information regarding a patient, such as one or more files or objects, such as an image of the part of the patient'"'"'s anatomy that is to be operated on, and an order from a surgeon for a surgical plan. A Plan Development client may include a surgical planning module that accesses the digital image from the Planning Server, and creates a computer-generated, three-dimensional model of the patient anatomy. The planning module of the Plan Development client also may create an electronic surgical plan, and may transmit the plan to the Planning server. The ordering surgeon may be notified of the availability of the plan, and may access the plan stored at the Planning server through a surgeon client. The ordering surgeon may utilize the remotely generated surgical plan during the surgical procedure on the patient.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request for a surgical plan from an ordering surgeon;

receiving, at a planning server, one or more electronic data objects containing information about a patient to be operated upon;

generating an electronic surgical plan for the patient based on the one or electronic data objects;

storing, in a secure manner, the surgical plan at the planning server; and

granting access to the surgical plan to the ordering surgeon.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

notifying the ordering surgeon of the availability of the surgical plan.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 wherein the ordering surgeon is notified by at least one of an email message, a text message, a voice message.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the one or more data objects are produced as part of a diagnostic procedure on the patient before the surgical procedure.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the one or more data objects are selected from the group consisted of a computed tomography (CT) image, a magnetic resonance image (MRI), and an X-ray image.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the surgical plan specifies one or more adjustments to be made to a surgical instrument.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 wherein the one or more adjustments specified in the surgical plan are modifiable by the ordering surgeon.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein

a surgical procedure is performed when the patient is operated on, and

the surgical plan includes one or more instructions for constructing a patient-specific component for use during the surgical procedure.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the patient-specific component is a drill guide.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 wherein the surgical instrument is a mechanical instrument having at least one moveable element, and the one or more adjustments of the surgical plan are to the at least one moveable element of the mechanical instrument.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 wherein

wherein the one or more data objects include information regarding a hip of the patient, and

the one or more adjustments of the surgical plan cause the mechanical instrument to fit to the hip of the patient.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising modifying the surgical plan by the ordering surgeon.

13. A client-server system comprising:

a server including;

a network interface card configured to transmit and receive messages,

a memory,

a processing element, and

at least one bus interconnecting the network interface card, the memory, and the processing element, wherein

the processing element of the server is configured to;

receive via the network interface card a request for a surgical plan, the request identifying an ordering surgeon,

upload at least one electronic image of a patient to be operated on and

store the at least one electronic image; and

a client including;

a communication facility,

a display unit,

a processing element, and

at least one bus interconnecting the communication facility, the display unit, and the processing element, wherein

the processing element of the client is configured to;

download, from the server, the at least one electronic image of the patient to be operated on,

create an electronic surgical plan based on the at least one electronic image, and

transmit the electronic surgical plan to the server, wherein,

the server provides access to the electronic surgical plan to the ordering surgeon identified in the request.

14. The client-server system of claim 13 wherein the surgical plan specifies one or more adjustments to be made to a surgical instrument.

15. The client-server system of claim 14 wherein

wherein the at least one electronic image is of at least a portion of a hip of the patient to be operated on, and

the one or more adjustments specified in the surgical plan cause the mechanical instrument to fit to the hip of the patient to be operated on.

16. The client-server system of claim 13 wherein the processing element of the client is further configured to

generated a three-dimensional, computer model of the hip of the patient to be operated, and

utilize the three-dimensional, computer model to create the electronic surgical plan.

17. A computer-readable medium comprising program instructions, the program instructions when executed by a processing element operable to:

receive a request for a surgical plan from an ordering surgeon;

receive one or more electronic data objects containing information about a patient to be operated upon;

receive an electronic surgical plan for the patient, the surgical plan specifying one or more adjustments to be made to a surgical instrument based on information derived from the one or data objects;

store, in a secure manner, the surgical plan at the planning server;

authenticate an access request from the ordering surgeon; and

grant access to the surgical plan to the ordering surgeon.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein

the surgical plan is stored at a planning server, and

access to the surgical plan is granted to a client machine located remotely from the planning server.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the client machine is located in ether an office associated with the ordering surgeon or an operating room where the patient is to be operated on.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the access to the surgical plan is provided through a viewer application configured to display the surgical plan on the client machine.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 further comprising program instructions operable to:

generate an invoice automatically in response to the ordering surgeon accessing the surgical plan.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 further comprising program instructions operable to:

receive an identifier of a facility at which surgery is to be performed; and

issue the generated invoice automatically to the identified facility.