Methods and systems for diagnosing, treating, or tracking spinal disorders

• US 8,126,736 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2009
• Issued: 02/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Warsaw Orthopedic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Warsaw Orthopedic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Anderson, Kent, Morrison, Matthew M, Carls, Thomas, Turner, Patrick Farrell, Drapeau, Scott James, Ferguson, Michael Allen, Lange, Eric, Poley, David W
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Connor, Gerald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hiep V.
• Application Number:
  US12/358,425
• Publication Number:
  US 20100191071A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,131 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/101 Computer-aided simulation of surgical operations
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/102 Modelling of surgical devices, implants or prosthesis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/10 Computer-aided planning, simulation or modelling of surgical operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/00 ICT specially adapted for therapies or health-improving plans, e.g. for handling prescriptions, for steering therapy or for monitoring patient compliance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/50 for simulation or modelling of medical disorders
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

A method of patient assessment, treatment, and outcome modeling is disclosed. The method includes obtaining patient characteristic information from a current patient, defining a plurality of therapeutic factors based on the characteristic information of the current patient, and weighting the therapeutic factors. The method also includes accessing at least one database having medical records of prior patients, the medical records including prior patient characteristic information, prior patient treatment plan, and prior patient outcome, comparing the weighted factors of the current patient to the medical records of the prior patients to identify one or more relevant prior patient records, and retrieving at least a portion of the relevant prior patient records, the portion including at least the prior patient treatment plan and the prior patient outcome. The method also includes performing a simulation of at least one of the prior patient treatment plans based on the current patient'"'"'s characteristic information and selecting a treatment plan for the current patient.

Claims

1. A method of patient assessment and outcome modeling, comprising:

obtaining, using a processor, patient characteristic information associated with a current patient, wherein said obtaining operation includes;

identifying at least one patient symptom,

selecting at least one patient category from a predefined set of patient categories associated with the at least one patient symptom, and

depending on the selected category, obtaining the patient characteristic information corresponding to the at least one patient category,

defining, using the processor, one or more desirable outcome factors based on the characteristic information of the current patient;

weighting, using the processor, the one or more desirable outcome factors;

accessing, using the processor, at least one database having medical records of prior patients, the medical records including at least prior patient characteristic information, prior patient treatment plan, and prior patient outcome;

comparing, using the processor, the weighted factors of the current patient to the medical records of the prior patients to identify one or more prior patient records relevant to the patient characteristic information of the current patient;

retrieving, using the processor, at least a portion of the relevant prior patient records, the portion including at least the prior patient treatment plan and the prior patient outcome; and

performing, using the processor, a simulation of at least one of the prior patient treatment plans based on the current patient'"'"'s characteristic information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying at least two available treatment plans for the current patient and ranking the at least two available treatment plans.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising performing a simulation of the at least two available treatment plans and wherein the ranking is at least partially based on the simulations.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the ranking is at least partially based on the success of the available treatment plans for the one or more relevant prior patient records.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said prior treatments and said available treatments include a spinal surgical procedure.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

selecting one of the at least two available treatment plans;

performing the selected treatment plan;

comparing one or more actual outcome factors to the one or more desirable outcome factors; and

updating the at least one database with a medical record of the current patient, including at least the selected treatment plan and the one or more actual outcome factors.

7. A method for identifying available treatment options for a patient having an increased likelihood of success, comprising:

obtaining, using a processor, a plurality of therapeutic factors associated with a current patient, said factors based at least partially on the current patient'"'"'s physical characteristics, pathology, and desired therapeutic outcomes, wherein said obtaining operation includes;

identifying at least one patient symptom,

selecting at least one patient category from a predefined set of patient categories associated with the at least one patient symptom, and

depending on the selected category, obtaining the plurality of therapeutic factors corresponding to the at least one patient category;

weighting, using the processor, the therapeutic factors;

accessing, using the processor, at least one database having records of prior patient treatments, including prior patient therapeutic factors, treatment plans, and treatment outcomes;

comparing, using the processor, the weighted therapeutic factors of the current patient with the prior patient therapeutic factors in the records of the database to identify prior patients with similar therapeutic factors;

retrieving, using the processor, from the database at least a portion of one or more records of prior patients with similar therapeutic factors; and

identifying, using the processor, available treatment options for the current patient based at least in part on the records of the prior patients with similar therapeutic factors.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the available treatment options are identified based on the success of the treatment options with prior patients with similar therapeutic factors.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising simulating the one or more available treatment options based on the current patient'"'"'s physical characteristics, pathology, and desired therapeutic outcomes.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a specific treatment option is selected from the one or more available treatment options at least partially based on the simulating of the one or more treatment plans.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the specific treatment option is selected at least partially based on the treatment outcomes of the prior patients with similar therapeutic factors.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising ranking the available treatment options.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the ranking is at least partially based on simulating the available treatment options.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the ranking is at least partially based on the prior patient outcomes.

15. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

analyzing the obtained patient characteristic information corresponding to the at least one patient category; and

providing a summary of the analysis, wherein the summary includes data related to the current patient'"'"'s medical condition and available treatment options.

16. The method of claim 7, wherein each patient category of the predefined set of patient categories includes an associated data collection set that defines a plurality of data items corresponding to the patient category.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said comparing operation further includes comparing the summary to a prior patient data set to identify previously successful treatment plans of prior patients in a similar patient category.

18. A system for identifying available treatment options for a current patient having an increased likelihood of success, comprising:

at least one local database storage device storing a plurality of records of prior local patients, the records including patient characteristic information, treatment information, and outcome information;

at least one remote database storage device storing a plurality of records of prior remote patients, the records including patient characteristic information, treatment information, and outcome information; and

at least one processing system operatively connected to the local and remote database storage devices, the at least one processing system comprising a computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions related to a diagnostic module, a modeling module, and a treatment module, and a processor that causes;

the diagnostic module to receive and weight current patient information, compare the current patient information to the plurality of records of in the local and remote databases, and retrieve records of prior patients with similar characteristic information from the local and remote databases, wherein to receive the current patient information, the diagnostic module is configured to;

identify at least one patient symptom,

select at least one patient category from a predefined set of patient categories associated with the at least one patient symptom, and

depending on the selected category, obtain the current patient information corresponding to the at least one patient category,

the treatment module to identify available treatment options for the current patient based at least partially on the records retrieved from the local and remote databases by the diagnostic module, and

the modeling module to simulate the available treatment options for the current patient identified by the treatment module, wherein the simulation is at least partially based on the outcome information from the records of prior patients retrieved from the local and remote databases.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the treatment information stored in the local and remote database storage devices includes medical products used in the treatment.