Systems and methods for surgical and interventional planning, support, post-operative follow-up, and, functional recovery tracking

A medical method, comprising:

• receiving data regarding tissue retraction in each of a plurality of performances of a virtual surgical procedure on a model of different patients;
• for each of a plurality of surgical procedures performed on the different patients, gathering retraction data related to tissue being retracted during performance of the surgical procedure using one or more sensors coupled to a retractor retracting the tissue;
• for each of the different patients, gathering pain level data indicative of a pain level of the patient following performance of the surgical procedure thereon;
• storing the gathered retraction data and the gathered pain level data in one or more storage devices;
• comparing the gathered pain level data and the gathered retraction data to determine a correlation;
• using the correlation before a performance of a surgical procedure on a patient to determine a pathway through nervous tissue of a patient to access target tissue of the patient;
• using a processor of a computer system, using the correlation during the performance of the surgical procedure on the patient involving retraction of the target tissue of the patient, wherein using the correlation during the performance of the surgical procedure includes the processor causing a retractor retracting the target tissue of the patient to automatically change position relative to the target tissue being retracted;
• for each of the performances of the surgical procedures performed on the different patients, in real time comparing the data received regarding tissue retraction in the performance of the virtual surgical procedure on the patient and retraction data gathered during the performance of the surgical procedure on the patient to determine if the retraction data gathered during the performance of the surgical procedure on the patient has an intolerable variance from the data received regarding tissue retraction in the performance of the virtual surgical procedure on the patient;
• and
• in response to determining that the retraction data gathered during the performance of the surgical procedure on the patient has an intolerable variance from the data received regarding tissue retraction in the performance of the virtual surgical procedure on the patient, generating, using the processor, an alert during the retracting of the tissue.

A medical method, comprising:

• receiving data regarding tissue retraction in a performance of a virtual surgical procedure on a model of a patient;
• advancing a retractor into a body of the patient along a pathway through the patient defined by a predetermined correlation between nerve tension during each of a plurality of previously performed surgical procedures on a plurality of patients and post-operative pain experienced by each of the plurality of patients;
• retracting tissue of the patient using the retractor;
• receiving an alarm generated by a processor of a computer system while the tissue is being retracted, the alarm being indicative of at least one of a length of time the tissue is retracted using the retractor reaching a predetermined threshold amount of time, an amount of the tissue retraction reaching a predetermined amount of tissue, and an amount of pressure being placed on at least one of the tissue and nerves of the patient as a result of the retraction reaching a predetermined amount of pressure, the alarm being based on data measured by at least one sensor coupled to the retractor;
• changing a position of the retractor relative to the tissue in response to receiving the alarm to reduce future pain of the patient;
• in real time with the retracting of the tissue, comparing the data received regarding tissue retraction in the performance of the virtual surgical procedure and tissue retraction data gathered during the retracting of the tissue to determine if the tissue retraction data gathered during the retracting of the tissue has an intolerable variance from the data received regarding tissue retraction in the performance of the virtual surgical procedure;
• and
• in response to determining that the tissue retraction data gathered during the retracting of the tissue has an intolerable variance from the data received regarding tissue retraction in the performance of the virtual surgical procedure, generating, using the processor, an alert during the retracting of the tissue.