Method and Apparatus for Guiding an External Needle to an Implantable Device

• US 20110237936A1
• Filed: 03/11/2011
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Hartmann, Steven L., Bzostek, Andrew, Jascob, Bradley A., Sarkinen, Scott A., Kalpin, Scott L., Koenig, Matthew W., Jacobsen, Brad, Borowitz, Peter J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,339,601 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/424
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2051 Electromagnetic tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/0811 for the position of a particular part of an instrument with respect to the rest of the instrument, e.g. position of the anvil of a stapling instrument
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3958 emitting a signal
• 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 34/25 User interfaces for surgical systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/11 with guides for needles or instruments, e.g. arcuate slides or ball joints
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2039/0081 Means for facilitating introduction of a needle in the septum, e.g. guides, special construction of septum
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2039/0238 having means for locating the implanted device to insure proper injection, e.g. radio-emitter, protuberances, radio-opaque markers
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/14276 specially adapted for implantation
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/427 Locating point where body is to be pierced, e.g. vein location means using ultrasonic waves, injection site templates

Abstract

A support tool or a supply assembly that delivers a functional fluid to a patient includes an antenna array for receiving or sensing a navigation field. The navigation field can be generated from a localizer. The localizer can be incorporated or included in an implanted device.

Claims

1. A system for determining a location of a trackable instrument with a receiving coil array, comprising:

a trackable instrument;

an tracking array associated with the trackable instrument, having;

tracking portions;

wherein each of the tracking portions is positioned at vertices of a geometric shape to form the tracking array;

wherein each of the tracking portions is operable to sense a field to determine position information and orientation information;

an implantable medical device having a power source;

a localizer positioned in the implanted medical device operable to emit a field to be sensed by the tracking array;

a display operable to display a location information of the trackable instrument.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the geometric shape is a tetrahedron and the tracking portions includes four tracking portions each having conductive coil groups;

wherein one of the four tracking portions is positioned at each vertices of the tetrahedron;

wherein each of the four tracking portions has three conductive coils for a total of 12 conductive coils in the tracking array.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein each of the four tracking portions has the three conductive coils wound substantially around a single origin.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the three conductive coils is at least one of each coil wound separately, set adjacent to one another, or set orthogonal to each other.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein each of the four conductive coil groups are positioned about 10 millimeters to about 15 millimeters apart at the vertices of the tetrahedron to form the receiving coil array.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the trackable instrument includes a fillable container having a piercing member extending from the fillable container;

wherein the trackable instrument is integrated with the fillable container, the piercing member, or combinations thereof to move substantially with the fillable container and the piercing member.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

a guide support having a passage and including the antenna array as the trackable instrument;

a fillable container operable to be guided with the guide support at least in part by being positioned through the passage of the guide support.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the fillable container is moveable separately from the guide support and positioned in the guide support when the guide support is in the selected location.

9. The system of claim 2,

wherein each of the four conductive coil groups are spaced apart from one another to sense the field of different positions relative to the trackable instrument.

10. A system for determining a location of a trackable instrument with a receiving coil array, comprising:

tracking portions positioned substantially in a selected geometric shape;

each of the tracking portions including a conductive material; and

each of the tracking portions having three individual coils that are aligned on an axis substantially orthogonal to the other two individual coils;

wherein each of the tracking portions are spaced apart from one another.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein each of the four coil groups is about 10 mm to about 15 mm apart from an adjacent one of the four coil groups.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein each of the four coil groups is about 12.5 mm apart from an adjacent one of the four coil groups.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the tracking portions includes four tracking portions including three coils a piece;

wherein the geometric shape is a tetrahedron.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein each of the three individual coils of each of the tracking portions is wound annularly around a single center point and substantially in a circle around the center point and each of the three individual coils are wrapped substantially circularly around the axis in which they are aligned.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein a volume of the tetrahedron defined by all of the four coil groups including the three individual coils has a volume of about 250 millimeters cubed.

16. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a delivery system;

an implantable medical device, wherein the delivery system is operable to deliver a functional material to the implantable medical device;

a localizer included with the implantable medical device;

a navigation processor operable to process a signal based on a field generated by the localizer and sensed by the tracking portions to determine a location of the delivery system.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a display device operable to display location information regarding the delivery system relative to the implantable medical device.

18. A system for determining a location of a trackable instrument with a receiving coil array, comprising:

twelve conductive coils arranged in the receiving coil array;

four conductive coil groups where each of the four conductive coil groups has three of the twelve conductive coils; and

a localizer positioned in an implanted medical device operable to emit a field to be sensed by each of the twelve conductive coils;

wherein each of the four conductive coil groups is positioned at vertices of a tetrahedron;

wherein fields sensed at each of the four conductive coil groups is operable to determine position information and orientation information for each of the coil groups relative to the localizer.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the implanted medical device includes a reservoir operable to hold a functional fluid:

a pump operable to pump the functional fluid from the implanted medical device to a patient; and

a port operable to provide filling access to the reservoir from an exterior of the implanted medical device.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

a delivery system operable to deliver the functional fluid to the reservoir in the implanted medical device;

wherein the receiving coil array is associated with the delivery system.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein each of the four conductive coil groups is about 10 millimeters to about 15 millimeters apart from one another;

wherein one of the coil groups is placed at a vertex of a shape defining a tetrahedron the vertices.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

a display device operable to display a determined position information and orientation information of the delivery system;

wherein a delivery system is operable to be moved relative to the implanted medical device and the determined position information and orientation information is operable to be displayed on the display device for viewing by a user.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the coils in each of the four conductive coil groups is operable to sense the field operable to allow determination of location information of each of the four conductive coil groups of the receiving coil array relative to the localizer.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the delivery system includes a supply assembly that is placed in a support member;

wherein the support houses the groups of conductive coils in the array for sensing the field from the localizer;

wherein the support member includes a three dimensionally contoured nesting surface that conforms to a corresponding three dimensionally contoured surface of the supply assembly, the corresponding surface of the supply assembly nesting against the nesting surface to support the supply assembly such that the supply axis remains substantially fixed relative to and aligned with the support axis.