US-12616521-B1 - Intraoperative visualization and manipulation of CAD objects

US12616521B1US 12616521 B1US12616521 B1US 12616521B1US-12616521-B1

Abstract

A system for intra-operatively viewing and manipulating computer-aided design (CAD) objects associated with a joint of a patient is disclosed. The system comprises a point probe having a tip and one or more tracking markers, a tracking device having one or more sensors configured to detect a location of the tracking markers, a display screen, and a processor. The processor displays a CAD environment on the display screen including a 3D bone model and one or more 3D objects. The processor receives a selection of one of the CAD objects from the point probe and receives the location of the tracking markers from the tracking device. The processor determines a motion of the tip of the point probe, processes the motion of the tip to generate a vector of motion constrained to a selected movement axis of the reference axes, and repositions the selected CAD object according to the vector.

Inventors

Samuel C. DUMPE
Branislav Jaramaz
Constantinos Nikou

Assignees

SMITH & NEPHEW, INC.
Smith & Nephew Asia Pacific Pte. Limited
SMITH & NEPHEW ORTHOPAEDICS AG

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20210707

Claims (20)

1 . A system for intra-operatively viewing and manipulating computer-aided design (CAD) objects associated with a joint of a patient, the system comprising: a point probe comprising a tip and one or more tracking markers; a tracking device comprising one or more sensors configured to detect a location of the one or more tracking markers; a display screen; a processor; and a non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: display, on the display screen, a CAD environment defined by a plurality of reference axes, the CAD environment comprising a plurality of CAD objects including a 3D bone model associated with a bone of the joint and one or more 3D objects, receive, from the point probe, a selection input related to a selected CAD object of the plurality of CAD objects, receive, from the tracking device, location data related to the location of the one or more tracking markers, determine, based on the location data, a motion of the tip of the point probe, process the motion of the tip to generate a vector of motion that defines a movement axis of the plurality of reference axes, and reposition the selected CAD object within the CAD environment according to the vector of motion with respect to the movement axis, wherein the repositioning is constrained to the movement axis.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to: voxelize the selected 3D object; remove voxels corresponding to the voxelized selected 3D object from the 3D bone model to generate an updated 3D bone model; and display, by the display screen, the updated 3D bone model.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to: receive a viewpoint input from the point probe; determine, based on the location data, a point on a surface of one of the plurality of CAD objects corresponding to a location of the tip of the point probe; and display, on the display screen, the CAD environment from a viewing plane normal to the point.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to: receive a viewpoint input from the point probe; determine, based on the location data, a viewpoint axis of the plurality of reference axes corresponding to a location of the tip of the point probe; and display, on the display screen, the CAD environment from a viewing plane normal to the viewpoint axis.
5 . The system of claim 1 , where the plurality of reference axes comprise a principal x-axis, a principal y-axis, and a principal z-axis of the CAD environment.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of reference axes comprise an anterior-posterior (AP) axis, a medial-lateral (ML) axis, and a superior-inferior (SI) axis associated with the bone.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of reference axes comprise a Varus/Valgus axis, a flexion/extension axis, and an internal/external rotational axis associated with the joint.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of reference axes comprise anatomic axes associated with an implant component for the joint.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the joint is a knee joint and the bone is selected from a femur and a tibia.
10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more 3D objects comprise one or more wedge-shaped 3D objects.
11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the display screen comprises at least one of a monitor or a head-mounted display.
12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to: receive an axis input related to the movement axis; select the movement axis from the plurality of reference axes based on the axis input; and constrain movement of the selected 3D object to the movement axis.
13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions that cause the processor to reposition the selected CAD object within the CAD environment according to the vector are constrained to instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to at least one of: translate the selected CAD object along the movement axis; and rotate the selected CAD object about the movement axis.
14 . A computer-implemented method for intra-operatively viewing and manipulating computer-aided design (CAD) objects associated with a joint of a patient, the method comprising: displaying, by a display screen, a CAD environment defined by a plurality of reference axes, the CAD environment comprising a plurality of CAD objects including a 3D bone model associated with a bone of the joint and one or more 3D objects; receiving, from a point probe, a selection input related to a selected CAD object of the plurality of CAD objects; receiving, from a tracking device, location data related to a location of the point probe; determining, based on the location data, a motion of a tip of the point probe; processing the motion of the tip to generate a vector of motion that defines a movement axis of the plurality of reference axes; and repositioning the selected CAD object within the CAD environment according to the vector of motion with respect to the movement axis, wherein the repositioning is constrained to the movement axis.
15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising: voxelizing the selected 3D object; removing voxels corresponding to the voxelized selected 3D object from the 3D bone model to generate an updated 3D bone model; and displaying, by the display screen, the updated 3D bone model.
16 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising: receiving a viewpoint input from the point probe; determining, based on the location data, a point on a surface of one of the plurality of CAD objects corresponding to a location of the tip of the point probe; and displaying, on the display screen, the CAD environment from a viewing plane normal to the point.
17 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising: receiving a viewpoint input from the point probe; determining, based on the location data, a viewpoint axis of the plurality of reference axes corresponding to a location of the tip of the point probe; and displaying, on the display screen, the CAD environment from a viewing plane normal to the viewpoint axis.
18 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising: receiving an axis input related to the movement axis; selecting the movement axis from the plurality of reference axes based on the axis input; and constraining movement of the selected 3D object to the movement axis.
19 . The method of claim 14 , wherein repositioning the selected CAD object within the CAD environment according to the vector is constrained to at least one of translating the selected CAD object along the movement axis and rotating the selected CAD object about the movement axis.
20 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of reference axes comprise an anterior-posterior (AP) axis, a medial-lateral (ML) axis, and a superior-inferior (SI) axis associated with the bone.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates generally to methods, systems, and apparatuses for visualizing and planning bone removal in an intraoperative setting. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to computer-aided design (CAD) tools for visualizing and planning bone removal in procedures where the bone volume is irregular and/or complex, e.g., a high tibial osteotomy (HTO), a femoral acetabular impingement (FAI) procedure, a bone defect, and/or a tumor osteotomy. The disclosed techniques may be applied to knee arthroplasties as well as shoulder and hip arthroplasties and/or other surgical interventions involving bone removal. BACKGROUND Many existing surgical navigation platforms and robotic surgical systems are focused on preparing a patient's bones for the subsequent placement of an implant. To this end, many surgical systems use saws to remove bone and resurface the ends of the bones receiving the implants. For example, some surgical systems for a total knee arthroplasty use a saw and an associated cutting jig to resurface a patient's femur and tibia at the knee joint to particular geometries corresponding to a femoral component and a tibial component of a knee joint prosthesis. However, some surgical procedures, such as a high tibial osteotomy (HTO), a femoral acetabular impingement (FAI) procedure, or a bone defect or tumor osteotomy, require removing bone from a location other than the end of a bone and/or from a section of bone having a highly specialized geometry in a manner which cannot be performed using conventional cutting jigs. For example, in one technique for performing an HTO, the surgeon cuts a wedge-shaped section of bone from the tibia in order to realign the tibial head and adjust the varus/valgus alignment of the knee joint. As another example, in a bone defect or tumor osteotomy, the surgeon removes a section of bone that closely matches the geometry of the defect or tumor in order to minimize the amount of healthy bone that is removed. Because defects and tumors can have complex geometries, the removed sections of bone can correspondingly have complex geometries. Because saws are not particularly adapted for removing bone in such situations, planning systems associated with surgical systems using saws are ill-suited for developing surgical plans for these types of procedures. Therefore, these types of procedures may be performed in a “freeform” manner, i.e., without assistance from a surgical navigation system. Accordingly, the performance of and patient outcomes associated with such procedures could be improved through computer-aided surgical systems that allow surgeons to (i) precisely define the geometry of the bone to be removed during the surgical procedure (which may or may not be located at the ends of the bones) and (ii) remove the defined area of the bone with assistance from a surgical navigation system and/or a robotic surgical system. Furthermore, a surgeon may have difficulty visualizing the bone volume for removal and/or the patient anatomy during planning. For example, the characteristics of the bone volume and/or the resulting patient anatomy may be unclear from a particular view and may require manipulation. However, free movement and/or rotation of objects may be unwieldy because movement of the objects is unconstrained, leading to difficulty in precisely and efficiently manipulating the model. As such, it would be advantageous to have a system that facilitates controlled manipulation of CAD objects using clinically meaningful constraints on movement. SUMMARY A system for intra-operatively viewing and manipulating computer-aided design (CAD) objects associated with a joint of a patient is provided. The system comprises a point probe comprising a tip and one or more tracking markers; a tracking device comprising one or more sensors configured to detect a location of the one or more tracking markers; a display screen; a processor; and a non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: display, on the display screen, a CAD environment defined by a plurality of reference axes, the CAD environment comprising a plurality of CAD objects including a 3D bone model associated with a bone of the joint and one or more 3D objects, receive, from the point probe, a selection input related to a selected CAD object of the plurality of CAD objects, receive, from the tracking device, location data related to the location of the one or more tracking markers, determine, based on the location data, a motion of the tip of the point probe, process the motion of the tip to generate a vector of motion with respect to a movement axis of the plurality of reference axes, and reposition the selected CAD object within the CAD environment according to the vector. According to some embodiments, the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to: voxelize the selected 3D object; remove voxels corresponding to t