| CPC A61B 34/20 (2016.02) [A61B 2034/2048 (2016.02); A61B 2034/2057 (2016.02); A61B 2034/2065 (2016.02); A61B 90/36 (2016.02); A61B 2090/363 (2016.02); A61B 2090/366 (2016.02)] | 20 Claims |
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1. A computerized system aiding a surgeon end-user, the system comprising:
a light projector configured to project at least one pattern onto a spine,
plural video cameras operative, when the spine is in the camera's field of view, to capture video imagery of the spine and the at least one pattern;
a tool tracker; and
a processor including logic configured to receive an output tool-status indication generated by said tool tracker and said video imagery, and to track, with at least millimeter-level accuracy, at least one vertebra of the spine, using said at least one pattern, which is known to the processor, and accordingly to provide feedback with at least millimeter-level accuracy to the surgeon during a surgical procedure, thereby to provide direct tracking of vertebrae rather than of markers attached to the spine,
said tool tracker comprising:
an inertial navigation subsystem (INS) to repeatedly compute said output tool-status indication of a current angular orientation and of a current position of at least one tool used during a surgical procedure on the spine, thereby to provide inertial tracking of the at least one tool's position and angle; and
a wireless communication module operative to provide data communication between said subsystem and said processor including sending said output tool-status indication to the processor,
wherein Near Infra-Red (NIR) light, having a wavelength to which the plural cameras are responsive, is used to project said at least one pattern,
wherein at least one of said plural video cameras comprises a filter that
(i) passes at least said structured light wavelength, and
(ii) blocks visible light,
wherein said feedback comprises three-dimensional (3D) depth reconstruction at sub-millimeter accuracy in an operating room lit with visible light by using said NIR light, for projection of said at least one pattern, allowing image contrast high enough to identify the at least one pattern on the video imagery despite illumination, by said visible light, of the operating room,
wherein the system has software which, based on continuous images of the at least one vertebra, provides continuous individual vertebra-level tracking,
wherein each position of the at least one tool is continuously tracked,
and
wherein the tool tracker's location is tracked by software tracking, in at least one image generated by the plural video cameras.
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