System and method for verifying calibration of a surgical device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9724165-B2
Application number	US-75080707-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 18, 2007
Priority date	May 19, 2006
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

The invention relates to a surgical system and, more particularly, to a surgical system and method for verifying calibration of a surgical device. The surgical system or method can be configured to perform the steps of: identifying an interface on an anatomy of a patient, determining a position of a checkpoint of the interface in a coordinate frame of reference, contacting the interface with a portion of a surgical tool of the surgical device, determining a position of the portion of the surgical tool in the coordinate frame of reference, and determining whether the position of the portion of the surgical tool has an expected correspondence to the position of the checkpoint. The interface may comprise a painted portion of a bone of the patient, a divot made in the bone, or a mechanical interface that includes a portion configured to be affixed to the bone and an interface portion that is configured to be contacted by the portion of the surgical tool.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for verifying registration of an anatomy tracker, comprising the steps of:
attaching a mechanical interface to an anatomy of a patient;
establishing an expected correspondence between a checkpoint of the interface and the anatomy tracker;
contacting the interface with a surgical tool of the surgical device, wherein a position of a portion of the surgical tool corresponds to a position of the checkpoint of the interface;
receiving, by a computer, information indicative of the contacting of the interface with the surgical tool of the surgical device;
determining, by the computer, the position of the portion of the surgical tool when the surgical tool is contacting the interface;
determining, by the computer, whether the position of the portion of the surgical tool has the expected correspondence to the anatomy tracker; and
using at least the determination of whether the position of the portion of the surgical tool has the expected correspondence to the anatomy tracker to determine whether the anatomy tracker has moved relative to the anatomy of the patient since an earlier registration of the anatomy;
wherein the interface is disposed on a bone of the patient.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of contacting the interface with the surgical tool includes contacting at least one of a bone of a patient and a mechanical interface disposed on the bone with a tip of a surgical tool.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
attaching a second interface to the anatomy of the patient;
establishing an expected correspondence between a second checkpoint of the second interface and a second anatomy tracker;
contacting the second interface with the surgical tool, wherein a position of a portion of the surgical tool corresponds to a position of the second checkpoint of the second interface; and
determining whether the position of the portion of the surgical tool has the expected correspondence to the position of the second anatomy tracker.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the interface is disposed on a first bone of the patient and the second interface is disposed on a second bone of the patient.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the step of contacting the interface includes contacting at least one of a first bone of the patient and the mechanical interface disposed on the first bone with a tip of the surgical tool, and wherein the step of contacting the second interface includes contacting at least one of a second bone of the patient and the second interface disposed on the second bone with the tip of the surgical tool.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining the first position of the checkpoint includes associating the checkpoint with a representation of the anatomy.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining whether the position of the portion of the surgical tool has the expected correspondence to the anatomy tracker includes determining whether a distance between one of a tip of the surgical tool and a center of the tip of the surgical tool and the checkpoint is equal to or less than a predetermined value.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
using at least the determination of whether the position of the portion of the surgical tool has the expected correspondence to the anatomy tracker to determine at least one of whether the portion of the surgical tool is correctly positioned, whether the surgical device has moved relative to the anatomy tracker, whether the surgical tool is installed in a desired orientation on the surgical device, and whether the desired surgical tool is installed on the surgical device.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of re-contacting the interface with the surgical tool to verify the information received indicative of the contacting of the interface.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mechanical interface includes a portion configured to be affixed to a bone of the patient and a portion configured to be contacted by the surgical tool.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the mechanical interface includes at least a bioabsorbable material.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the mechanical interface includes at least one of a frustoconical surface and a conical surface.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the step of determining at least one of a depth of penetration of the portion of the surgical tool into the at least one of the frustoconical surface and the conical surface of the mechanical interface and a distance between the portion of the surgical tool and the checkpoint.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of determining an orientation of the mechanical interface.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of obtaining information about the mechanical interface, wherein the mechanical interface comprises a feature configured to provide the information.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the feature provides at least one of a position and an orientation of the mechanical interface.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the feature is at least one of embedded in the mechanical interface, integral to the mechanical interface, and formed on a surface of the mechanical interface.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the feature is configured to emit a signal that provides the information.

19. The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of reminding an operator of the surgical device to remove the mechanical interface.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the step of reminding includes at least one of attaching a suture to the mechanical interface, providing a visual warning with the surgical device, and applying surgical tape to the anatomy of the patient.

21. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of determining whether the position of the portion of the surgical tool is static.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein whether the portion of the surgical tool is static is determined by the steps of:
determining the position of the portion of the surgical tool a plurality of times;
determining a standard deviation for the plurality of determined positions of the portion of the surgical tool; and
determining whether the standard deviation exceeds a threshold value.

23. A system for verifying calibration of a surgical device, comprising:
a mechanical interface, the mechanical interface including a portion configured to be attached to a bone of the patient and a portion configured to be contacted by a portion of a surgical tool of the surgical device;
the surgical tool of the surgical device configured to contact the mechanical interface attached to an anatomy of a patient; and
a computing system programmed to:
establish an expected correspondence between a checkpoint of the mechanical interface and an anatomy tracker;
determine the position of the portion of the surgical tool when the surgical tool is contacting the mechanical interface and when the portion of the surgical tool corresponds to a position of the checkpoint of the mechanical interface;
determine whether the position of the portion of the surgical tool has the expected correspondence to the anatomy tracker; and
determine whether the anatomy tracker has moved relative to the anatomy of the patient since an earlier registration of the anatomy, using at least the determination of whether the position of the portion of the surgical tool has the expecte

Assignees

• Arata Louis
• Aly Sherif
• Van Vorhis Robert
• Glauser Sandi
• Blackwell Timothy
• Abovitz Rony
• Ferre Maurice R
• Mako Surgical Corp

Inventors

• Arata Louis
• Aly Sherif
• Van Vorhis Robert
• Glauser Sandi
• Blackwell Timothy
• Abovitz Rony
• Ferre Maurice R

Classifications

• A61B34/30

  Surgical robots · CPC title

• A61B2034/108

  Computer aided selection or customisation of medical implants or cutting guides · CPC title

• A61B2017/00725

  Calibration or performance testing · CPC title

• A61B2017/00694

  with means correcting for movement of or for synchronisation with the body · CPC title

• A61B2034/107

  Visualisation of planned trajectories or target regions · CPC title