Methods and Systems for Diagnosing, Treating, or Tracking Spinal Disorders

• US 20100191071A1
• Filed: 01/23/2009
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Warsaw Orthopedic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Warsaw Orthopedic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Poley, David W., Drapeau, Scott James, Ferguson, Michael Allen, Turner, Patrick Farrell, Lange, Eric C., Anderson, Kent M., Morrison, Matthew M., Carls, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 8,126,736 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/301
• 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 patient characteristic information from a current patient;

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

weighting the one or more desirable outcome factors;

accessing 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 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 characteristics information of the current patient;

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; and

performing 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 administered 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;

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 a plurality of therapeutic factors from a current patient, said factors based at least partially on the current patient'"'"'s physical characteristics, pathology, and desired therapeutic outcomes;

weighting the therapeutic factors;

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

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

identifying 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, comprising:

identifying at least one patient symptom;

selecting at least one patient category associated with the at least one patient symptom;

obtaining data corresponding to the at least one patient category;

providing the obtained data to a software application;

analyzing the obtained data with the software application; and

providing a summary of the software application analysis for use in diagnosing the patient'"'"'s medical condition and identifying available treatment options.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting the at least one patient category comprises selecting a patient category from a predefined set of patient categories.

17. The method of claim 16, 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.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein identifying available treatment options for the current patient comprises comparing the summary to a prior patient data set to identify previously successful treatment plans of prior patients in a similar patient category.

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

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

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

at least one processing system operatively connected to the local and remote databases, the at least one processing system comprising a diagnostic module, a modeling module, and a treatment module;

the diagnostic module being configured 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,

the treatment module being configured 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,

the modeling module being configured 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.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the treatment information stored in the local and remote databases includes medical products used in the treatment.