Tissue discrimination and applications in medical procedures
First Claim
1. A system for preventing violation of a cortical wall of a pedicle during spine surgery, said pedicle including a cancellous core within said cortical wall, said system comprising:
- (a) a screw configured for advancement and purchase into said pedicle and having a non-conductive shaft and a conductive tip; and
(b) a processor in electrical communication with the screw, the processor configured to direct application of an electrical signal to the conductive tip and determine at least one of the capacitance and impedance characteristics of the tissue adjacent to said conductive tip to determine whether said conductive tip lies within or adjacent cortical bone, cancellous bone, and cortical bone near the boundary with soft tissue.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for discriminating tissue types, controlling the level of therapy to tissue, and determining the health of a known tissue by measuring the characteristics of an electrical signal applied to a conductive element located within or by the tissue. Additionally, the system and method may be used for determining whether the conductive tip of a pedicle probe or pedicle screw is located in one of cortical bone, cancellous bone, and cortical bone near a boundary with soft tissue, whether the conductive tip of a cannula is located adjacent to one of nerve tissue and annulus tissue, and whether the conductive tip of a cathode is located adjacent to one of nerve tissue and prostate gland tissue.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A system for preventing violation of a cortical wall of a pedicle during spine surgery, said pedicle including a cancellous core within said cortical wall, said system comprising:
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(a) a screw configured for advancement and purchase into said pedicle and having a non-conductive shaft and a conductive tip; and (b) a processor in electrical communication with the screw, the processor configured to direct application of an electrical signal to the conductive tip and determine at least one of the capacitance and impedance characteristics of the tissue adjacent to said conductive tip to determine whether said conductive tip lies within or adjacent cortical bone, cancellous bone, and cortical bone near the boundary with soft tissue. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for preventing violation of a cortical wall of a pedicle during spine surgery, said pedicle including a cancellous core within said cortical wall, comprising the steps of:
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(a) advancing a pedicle screw into at least one of said cancellous core and said cortical wall of said pedicle during spine surgery, said pedicle screw having a conductive tip for measuring impedance; (b) delivering an electrical signal to said conductive tip during step (a); (c) measuring the impedance of at least one of said cancellous core and said cortical wall during step (a); and (d) stopping the advancement of said pedicle screw based on a change in said measured impedance from step (c)to prevent a violation of said cortical wall by the continued advancement of said pedicle screw. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for preventing violation of a cortical wall of a pedicle during spine surgery, said pedicle including a cancellous core within said cortical wall, comprising the steps of:
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(a) advancing a pedicle screw through said cancellous core of said pedicle during spine surgery, said pedicle screw having a conductive tip for measuring impedance; (b) measuring the impedance adjacent the conductive tip during step (a); (c) viewing feedback from an output element; and (d) stopping the advancement of said pedicle screw if said measured impedance indicates said conductive tip is not within said cancellous core to prevent a violation of said cortical wall by the continued advancement of said pedicle screw. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification