Method and apparatus for surgical navigation

• US 8,644,907 B2
• Filed: 04/29/2010
• Issued: 02/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Navigation Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Navigation Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Hartmann, Steven L., Burg, Bruce M., Bzostek, Andrew, Koenig, Matthew W., Jacobsen, Brad, Jascob, Bradley A., Kessman, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Jacqueline
• Application Number:
  US12/770,181
• Publication Number:
  US 20100210939A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,377 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 600/424
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/1615 Drill bits, i.e. rotating tools extending from a handpiece to contact the worked material
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/1703 using imaging means, e.g. by X-rays
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00221 with wireless transmission of data, e.g. by infrared radiation or radiowaves
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0046 with a releasable handle; with handle and operating part separable
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00477 Coupling A61B2017/0046 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2051 Electromagnetic 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 2090/3983 Reference marker arrangements for use with image guided surgery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3987 Applicators for implanting markers
• 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 5/062 using magnetic field
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/39 Markers, e.g. radio-opaque or breast lesions markers

Abstract

Disclosed is a surgical navigation system for tracking an instrument relative to a patient. The system can track a portion of the patient, an instrument, and/or both relative to image data, a coordinate system, an atlas, a morphed atlas, or combinations thereof. The system can include a tracking device on the instrument to provide six degree of freedom information regarding the location of the instrument.

Claims

1. A navigation system, comprising:

an instrument extending along a longitudinal axis;

a tracking device positioned on the instrument, including;

a first length of wire wrapped around the longitudinal axis of the instrument for a selected plural number of turns to form a first coil extending along the longitudinal axis and having a first wrap axis that is non-normal to the longitudinal axis; and

a second length of wire wrapped around a portion of the first coil and around the longitudinal axis of the instrument for a selected plural number of turns extending along the longitudinal axis and having a second wrap axis that is non-normal to the longitudinal axis; and

a localizer emitting an electromagnetic field operable to be sensed by the tracking device, wherein the first wrap axis forms a first navigation vector and the second wrap axis forms a second navigation vector, wherein the first wrap axis and second wrap axis intersect at a single point.

2. The navigation system of claim 1, wherein the first navigation vector and the second navigation vector form an angle relative to the longitudinal axis that are different from one another.

3. The navigation system of claim 2, wherein the first navigation vector forms an angle relative to the second navigation vector that is about 90 degrees.

4. The navigation system of claim 1, further comprising:

a third length of wire wrapped around the longitudinal axis of the instrument for a selected number of turns extending along the longitudinal axis and having a third wrap axis non-normal to the longitudinal axis.

5. The navigation system of claim 4, wherein the first navigation vector and the second navigation vector each form a different angle relative to a longitudinal plane defined by the longitudinal axis.

6. The navigation system of claim 5, wherein all of the first navigation vector, the second navigation vector, and the third navigation vector all intersect at a single point in a single plane on the longitudinal axis.

7. The navigation system of claim 1, further comprising:

a display device operable to display location information regarding the position of the tracking device; and

a processing system operable to determine the location information regarding the tracking device based upon the electromagnetic field emitted by the localizer;

wherein location information includes six degrees of freedom including both three dimensional location information and three degrees of freedom orientation information regarding the location of the tracking device in three dimensional space;

wherein the six degrees of freedom is determined at least in part by the first navigation vector and the second navigation vector formed non-normal to the longitudinal axis;

wherein a specific location of a selected portion of the instrument is illustrated on the display based on the six degrees of freedom information regarding location of the specific portion of the instrument.

8. The navigation system of claim 1, wherein the instrument includes a catheter, a needle, a biopsy instrument, an ablation catheter, a stylet, and combinations thereof.

9. The navigation system of claim 1, wherein the single point is within the instrument.

10. The navigation system of claim 1, wherein the single point is on the longitudinal axis.

11. A navigation system, comprising:

an instrument extending along a first axis and operable to be used to perform a procedure on a patient;

a tracking device including at least two tracking portions positioned on the instrument, each of the two tracking portions including a coil formed of a plurality of loops of conductive material wrapped at a winding angle to the first axis of the instrument for a selected number of turns so that each of the two tracking portions includes a different navigation vector, wherein a first tracking portion overlays a second tracking portion;

a localizer operable with the tracking device to determine two navigation vectors, one for each of the two tracking portions; and

a navigation processor operable to determine six degree of freedom location information for the instrument based on the determined two navigation vectors, wherein the tracking device including the at least two tracking portions is formed by overlaying each of the two tracking portions over one another, wherein a first of the two tracking portions is wrapped around the first axis on the instrument, and a second of the two tracking portions is wrapped around the first axis on the instrument and over the first tracking portion.

12. The navigation system of claim 11, wherein the conductive material of the tracking device includes a copper based wire.

13. The navigation system of claim 11, wherein the instrument includes a non-rigid instrument extending along the first axis a selected length;

wherein the tracking device includes a plurality of tracking devices each having at least two tracking portions and each of the plurality of tracking devices positioned a distance apart along the length of the instrument;

wherein six degrees of freedom information is determined for each of the plurality of tracking devices positioned along the instrument.

14. The navigation system of claim 13, further comprising:

an icon displayed on a display device operable to illustrate a relative orientation of each of the tracking devices positioned along the instrument.

15. The navigation system of claim 14, wherein the instrument includes a biopsy needle having a biopsy window;

wherein the display is operable to display six degree of position information, including three dimensional position information and three degrees of freedom orientation information determined solely from the tracking device.

16. The navigation system of claim 14, wherein the instrument includes an ablation catheter having an ablation element operable to ablate a single position along the first axis of the instrument and a limited radial ablation;

wherein an icon is displayed on the display device operable to illustrate at least three degrees of position information and three degrees of orientation information regarding the area operable to be ablated with the ablation portion at a selected time.

17. The navigation system of claim 11, wherein each of the two tracking portions has an insulation portion between each of the two tracking portions and the other of the two tracking portions and/or the instrument.

18. The navigation system of claim 11, wherein a single point defined by the intersection of the different navigation vectors is within the instrument on the first axis.

19. A method of navigating an instrument, comprising:

forming a tracking device for a surgical instrument having a central axis, by;

forming a first tracking portion by wrapping a first length of a first material a selected plural number of turns around the central axis for a first distance, wherein each turn of the first material is formed at a first winding angle to the central axis to define a first wrap axis; and

forming a second tracking portion by wrapping a second length of a second material around the first tracking portion and the central axis for a selected plural number of turns for a second distance, wherein each turn of the second material is formed at a second winding angle to the central axis to define a second wrap axis, said first and second wrap axes intersecting at a single point;

determining a first navigation vector of the first tracking portion and a second navigation vector of the second tracking portion; and

determining location information for the tracking device based on the determined first navigation vector and the determined second navigation vector.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

selecting the first material and selecting the second material to be the same material;

wherein the selected first material and the selected second material is a thin conductive material.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

forming the first angle and the second angle such that the first navigation vector is at an angle of about 60 degrees to about 120 degrees relative to the second navigation vector.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

forming a third tracking portion by wrapping a third length of a third material around the central axis a selected number of turns for a third length, wherein each turn of the third material is formed at a third angle to the central axis; and

determining a third navigation vector of the third tracking portion.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

generating all of the first navigation vector, the second navigation vector, and the third navigation vector to intersect near a single point in a single plane.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein forming a tracking device includes forming a plurality of tracking devices each including at least a first tracking portion and a second tracking portion;

and

placing each of the plurality tracking devices on the instrument positioned a distance apart;

wherein determining location information for the tracking device includes determining location information for each of the plurality of tracking devices positioned along the length of the instrument.

25. The navigation system of claim 19, wherein the single point is within the instrument.

26. The navigation system of claim 19, wherein the single point is on the central axis.