Interactive computer-assisted surgical system and method thereof

• US 6,450,978 B1
• Filed: 05/28/1999
• Issued: 09/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ORTHOsoft Holdings Inc. (Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Orthosoft Inc. (Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hamel, Geneviéve, Amiot, Louis-Philippe, Boivin, Michel, Brosseau, Éric
• Primary Examiner(s): HINDENBURG, MAX F
• Application Number:
  US09/322,398
• Time in Patent Office: 1,208 Days
• Field of Search: 600/587, 600/592, 600/594, 600/595, 606/53, 606/54, 606/86-89, 606/96, 606/97
• US Class Current: 600/595
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/102 Modelling of surgical devices, implants or prosthesis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/105 Modelling of the patient, e.g. for ligaments or bones
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2055 Optical tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2068 using pointers, e.g. pointers having reference marks for determining coordinates of body points
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2072 Reference field transducer attached to an instrument or patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/256 having a database of accessory information, e.g. including context sensitive help or scientific articles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/363 Use of fiducial points
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3983 Reference marker arrangements for use with image guided surgery
• 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 34/25 User interfaces for surgical systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/36 Image-producing devices or illumination devices not otherwise provided for

Abstract

A computer-assisted surgical system and method are described herein. The computer-assisted surgical system comprises a computer including three-dimensional models of anatomical structures and a user interface including a position sensing system to register in real-time the relative positions of the anatomical structures of interest and of a surgical tool. Interactions between the tool and the anatomical structure are displayed on a monitor using the three-dimensional models. Multi-view display, transparency display and use of cutting planes allow the surgeon to visualize the interaction between the tool and the anatomical structures any time during the surgical procedure. The system can also predict the constraint on anatomical structures before surgery.

Claims

1. An interactive surgical system to assist a surgery on at least one anatomical structure, said system comprising:

a tool;

a computer, including a three-dimensional model of each of the at least one anatomical structure and a three-dimensional model of said tool;

an output device being configured to display said model of each of the at least one anatomical structure and said model of said tool; and

a position sensing system being configured to register the position of said tool and the position of each of the at least one anatomical structure and transferring said positions to said computer;

wherein, in operation, said computer, using said positions of said tool and of the at least one anatomical structure, is configured to determine virtual positions of said models of each of the at least one anatomical structures and of said tool and to control said output device to display said models of each of said anatomical structure and of said tool at their respective virtual positions;

said three-dimensional model of each of the at least one anatomical structure being so displayed as to appear partially transparent, the computer being further configured to selectively vary the transparency intensity used to display said three-dimensional model, ranging from opacity to disappearance of the model.

2. An interactive surgical system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a storing device, connected to said computer, to store at least one of said model of the at least one anatomical structure and said surgical tool.

3. An interactive surgical system as recited in claim 2, wherein said storing device is taken from the group consisting of a disk drive, a CD-ROM drive, a hard-disk drive and a computer memory.

4. An interactive surgical system as recited in claim 2, wherein said storing device is remotely connected to the computer via a computer network.

5. An interactive surgical system as recited in claim 1, wherein said position sensing system includes:

at least one magnetic field emitter secured to the at least one anatomical structure;

a magnetic field emitter secured to said tool; and

a magnetic field sensor to capture and to transfer to said computer the signal of said field emitters on said tool and on the at least on anatomical structure;

wherein said computer uses said signals to determine the position of said anatomical structure and the position of said tool.

6. An interactive surgical system as recited in claim 1, wherein said position sensing system includes:

at least one reference assembly secured to the at least one anatomical structure;

a reference assembly secured to said tool; and

a camera to capture and to transfer to said computer the image of said reference assemblies on said tool and on the at least one anatomical structure;

wherein said computer uses said image to determine the position of said anatomical structure and the position of said tool.

7. An interactive surgical system as recited in claim 1, wherein said output device includes a display monitor.

8. An interactive surgical system as recited in claim 1, wherein said output device includes three-dimensional display goggles.

9. An interactive surgical system as recited in claim 1, further comprising at least one input device, connected to said computer.

10. An interactive surgical system as recited in claim 9, wherein said at least one input device is selected from the group consisting of a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen and a voice recognition system.

11. An interactive surgical system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one anatomical structure includes bones.

12. An interactive user interface for a computer system to assist a surgery on an anatomical structure, said user interface comprising:

a tool;

an output device connected to said computer;

said output device being configured to display a three-dimensional model of each of the at least one anatomical structure and a three-dimensional model of said tool with a user-selectable level of opacity; and

a position sensing system connected to the computer;

said position sensing system being configured to register the position of said tool and the position of each of the at least one anatomical structure and to transfer these positions to the computer;

whereby, in operation, the computer, using said positions of said tool and of the at least once anatomical structure, is configured to determine virtual positions of said models of each of the at least one anatomical structures and of said tool and to control said output device to display said models of each of said anatomical structure and of said tool at their respective virtual positions.

13. An interactive user interface as recited in claim 12, wherein said position sensing system includes:

at least one magnetic field emitter secured to the at least one anatomical structure;

a magnetic field emitter secured to said tool; and

a magnetic field sensor to capture and to transfer to said computer the signal of said field emitters of said tool and of the at least one anatomical structure;

wherein said computer uses said signals to determine the position of said anatomical structure and the position of said tool.

14. An interactive user interface as recited in claim 12, wherein said position sensing system includes:

at least one reference assembly secured to the at least one anatomical structure;

a reference assembly secured to said tool; and

a camera to capture and to transfer to the computer the image of said reference assemblies on said tool and on the at least one anatomical structure.

15. An interactive user interface as recited in claim 12, wherein said output device is selected from the group consisting of a display monitor and three-dimensional display goggles.

16. An interactive user interface as recited in claim 12, wherein said tool is an awl.

17. An interactive user interface as recited in claim 12, further comprising at least one input device connected to said computer.

18. An interactive user interface as recited in claim 17, wherein said at least one input device is selected from the group consisting of a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen and a voice recognition system.

19. A method to assist a surgical procedure on at least one anatomical structure, said method comprising:

providing a position sensing system;

providing a tool to perform a surgical procedure on the aty least one anatomical structure;

using the position sensing system to register the relative position of the tool and of each of the at least one anatomical structure;

using said relative position of said tool and of each of the at least one anatomical structure to compute respective virtual positions of each of the at least one anatomical structure and of said tool;

providing an output device;

inputting a user-selected level of opacity;

display on the output device a first view including a transparent three-dimensional computer model of each of the at least one anatomical structure and a three-dimensional computer model of the tool at said respective virtual positions, the transparent model having a level of opacity dependent on the inputted user-selected level of opacity.

20. A method as recited in claim 19, further comprising using an input device to select a cutting plane on said at least one view.

21. A surgical procedure method as recited in claim 20, further comprising displaying on said output device a second view corresponding to said cutting plane;

said second view including said transparent three-dimensional computer model of each of the at least one anatomical structure and said three-dimensional computer model of the tool at said respective virtual positions.