US 12,220,178 B2
Method and apparatus for calibrating an instrument for surgical intervention
Daniel Fossum Bratbak, Trondheim (NO)
Assigned to Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim (NO)
Appl. No. 17/272,451
Filed by Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim (NO)
PCT Filed Sep. 13, 2019, PCT No. PCT/EP2019/074555
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 1, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/053421, PCT Pub. Date Mar. 19, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 1814924 (GB), filed on Sep. 13, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0322107 A1, Oct. 21, 2021
Int. Cl. A61B 34/20 (2016.01); G06T 7/73 (2017.01); A61B 17/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 34/20 (2016.02) [G06T 7/73 (2017.01); A61B 2017/0023 (2013.01); A61B 2017/00725 (2013.01); A61B 2034/2055 (2016.02); G06T 2207/10048 (2013.01)] 24 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of calibrating an instrument for surgical intervention, the instrument having a tip at a distal end thereof and a navigation array spaced from the distal end and configured to be detected in space, wherein the navigation array has a fixed spatial and angular relationship with the tip, the method comprising the steps of:
placing a calibrator having a spherical shape on the tip of the instrument such that the tip is positioned within the spherical shape at a known displacement from a center of the spherically shaped calibrator, the center of the calibrator configured to be detected as a single point in space, the calibrator configured such that the known displacement can be zero;
detecting a position of the navigation array and the center of the calibrator; and
determining a position of the center of the calibrator relative to the navigation array, thereby calibrating a position of the tip of the instrument relative to the navigation array.