System, device, and method for determining a position of an object

• US 7,657,298 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2004
• Issued: 02/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stryker European Operations Holdings, LLC (Stryker Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Stryker Leibinger GmbH & Co. KG (Stryker Corporation)
• Inventors: Wu, Chunwu, Moctezuma de la Barrera, Jose Luis
• Primary Examiner(s): Casler; Brian
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHAO, ELMER M
• Application Number:
  US10/798,614
• Publication Number:
  US 20050203383A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,154 Days
• Field of Search: 600/424, 600/443, 600/442, 600/440, 600/407, 128/916, 128/899, 606/108, 340/686, 361/143
• US Class Current: 600/407
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2051 Electromagnetic tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2055 Optical tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2072 Reference field transducer attached to an instrument or patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/378 using ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3983 Reference marker arrangements for use with image guided surgery
• 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 8/0841 for locating instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/085 for locating body or organic structures, e.g. tumours, calculi, blood vessels, nodules
• 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 8/4227 characterised by straps, belts, cuffs or braces
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4254 using sensors mounted on the probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4263 using sensors not mounted on the probe, e.g. mounted on an external reference frame
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4477 using several separate ultrasound transducers or probes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/461 Displaying means of special interest
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/481 involving the use of contrast agent, e.g. microbubbles introduced into the bloodstream analysis of echo signal exploiting properties of a contrast enhancer in devices for short-range imaging with acoustic waves G01S7/52039
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/58 Testing, adjusting or calibrating the diagnostic device
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/36 Image-producing devices or illumination devices not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/39 Markers, e.g. radio-opaque or breast lesions markers
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/007 for contrast media

Abstract

A system is disclosed for determining a position and a change in the position of an anatomical structure. The system utilizes a surgical navigation system and a substrate that is capable of being removably mounted to an outer surface of a patient'"'"'s body. The substrate includes a sensor that is tracked by the surgical navigation system and a positional device that determines the position of an anatomical structure relative to the sensor. The concatenation of the position of the sensor and the relative position of the anatomical structure allows a global position of the anatomical structure to be determined by a computer system and displayed to the user.

Claims

1. A system for determining a position and a change in the position of an anatomical structure, comprising:

a surgical navigation system;

a substrate including means for removably attaching the substrate to an outer surface of a body, wherein the body includes an anatomical structure;

a sensor attached to the substrate that can be tracked by the surgical navigation system to determine a position of the sensor;

a magnetic transmitter attached to the substrate;

a magnetic sensor comprising means for attachment to the anatomical structure,

wherein the magnetic transmitter and the magnetic sensor are utilized to determine a position of the anatomical structure relative to the sensor;

a first circuit for calculating a global position of the anatomical structure by concatenating the position of the sensor and the position of the anatomical structure relative to the sensor; and

a second circuit for displaying the global position of the anatomical structure on a display unit.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the sensor is an optical tracking device.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the optical tracking device includes three LED'"'"'s.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the anatomical structure is a bony structure.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the means for attachment includes an anchor.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the magnetic sensor is connected to a retrieval device.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the retrieval device comprises a wire.

8. The device of claim 6, wherein the retrieval device is attached to the substrate.

9. The device of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of magnetic sensors, wherein each of the magnetic sensors comprises means for attachment to the anatomical structure, and wherein the magnetic transmitter and the plurality of magnetic sensors are utilized to determine the position of the anatomical structure.

10. A method for determining a position and a change in the position of an anatomical structure using a surgical navigation system, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a surgical navigation system;

attaching a substrate in a removable manner to an outer surface of a body, the substrate having an associated sensor and having a positional device for determining a position of the anatomical structure relative to the sensor, where in the positional device includes a magnetic transmitter attached to the substrate and a magnetic sensor comprising means for attachment to the anatomical structure, and wherein the body includes an anatomical structure spaced interiorly from the outer surface, the magnetic transmitter and the magnetic sensor are utilized to determine a position of the anatomical structure relative to the sensor, and the sensor is tracked by the surgical navigation system to determine a position of the sensor;

determining the global position of the anatomical structure by concatenating the position of the sensor and the position of the anatomical structure relative to the sensor;

tracking the position of the anatomical structure with the surgical navigation system; and

displaying the position of the anatomical structure on a display unit.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the sensor is an optical tracking device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the optical tracking device includes three LED'"'"'s.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the anatomical structure is a bony structure.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein multiple positional devices simultaneously determine the position of the anatomical structure.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of calibrating the multiple positional devices by using a calibration object to determine relative distances between the positional devices.

16. The method of claim 10, including the step of placing the magnetic sensor next to the anatomical structure.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of transcutaneously placing the magnetic sensor position indicating structure next to the anatomical structure through a sleeve with an impaction device.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein the magnetic sensor includes a pin removably attached to the anatomical structure.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the magnetic sensor is in a connected relation to a retrieval device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the retrieval device is a wire.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the wire is attached to the substrate.

22. The method of claim 10. wherein the step of tracking the position of the anatomical structure is performed without using a reference device invasively affixed to the body.

23. The method of claim 10, further comprising a plurality of magnetic sensors that are placed next to the anatomical structure and interact with the magnetic transmitter.

24. The method of claim 10, wherein the magnetic sensor includes an anchor removably attached to the anatomical structure.