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US 11,076,825 B2Granted
Surgical instrument to assess tissue characteristics
AssigneeWarsaw Orthopedic, Inc.
InventorsJeffrey H. Nycz, Fred J. Molz, IV, Steven Tethrake, Stanley Warren Olson, Jr., William T. Donofrio
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A surgical instrument for assessing tissue characteristics such as tissue density and volume is disclosed. The surgical instrument is hand-held and includes transducers adapted for emitting and/or receiving acoustic signals. The surgical instrument utilizes pulse-echo to determine tissue characteristics. The surgical instrument may be utilized to determine such things as the size of a lesion and whether the lesion has been completely removed or filled with graft material.
Claims20
A method of treating osteoporosis in a bone tissue, comprising:
- placing a hand-held device at least proximate a surface of the bone tissue, the hand-held device comprising multiple emitting transducers, a dedicated receiving transducer, and a processor, each of the multiple emitting transducers being configured for emitting at least one acoustic signal into the bone tissue, and the dedicated receiving transducer being configured for receiving an echo corresponding to each of the at least one acoustic signals;
- emitting, by each of the multiple emitting transducers, the at least one acoustic signal into the bone tissue, each of the at least one acoustic signal being reflected by a boundary of an osteoporotic region of the bone tissue as an echo;
- detecting, by the dedicated receiving transducer, each of the echoes corresponding to each of the at least one acoustic signals;
- determining, by the processor, a time delay for each of the detected echoes;
- determining, by the processor, boundaries of the osteoporotic region by calculating depths thereof based on the determining of the time delays and assumed speeds for each of the at least one acoustic signals;
- determining a location of the osteoporotic region in the bone tissue using the determined boundaries;
- determining, by the processor, an approximate volume of the osteoporotic region based on the determined boundaries of the osteoporotic region and comparing the determined boundaries to one or more geometric shapes of known volume;
- and
- utilizing the location and the approximate volume of the osteoporotic region to guide a surgical instrument to the osteoporotic region.
6 more elements
A method of treating osteoporosis in a bone tissue, comprising:
- placing a hand-held device at least proximate a surface of the bone tissue, the hand-held device comprising multiple emitting transducers, a dedicated receiving transducer, and a processor;
- emitting, by each of the multiple emitting transducers, at least one acoustic signal into the bone tissue;
- detecting, by the dedicated receiving transducer, an echo reflected by a boundary of an osteoporotic region of the bone tissue as an echo corresponding to each of the at least one acoustic signals;
- determining, by the processor, a time delay for each of the detected echoes;
- determining, by the processor, boundaries of the osteoporotic region by calculating depths thereof based on the determining of the time delays and assumed speeds for each of the at least one acoustic signals;
- determining a location of the osteoporotic region in the bone tissue using the determined boundaries;
- determining, by the processor, an approximate volume of the osteoporotic region based on the determined boundaries of the osteoporotic region and comparing the determined boundaries to one or more geometric shapes of known volume;
- and
- utilizing the location and the approximate volume of the osteoporotic region to guide a surgical instrument to the osteoporotic region.
6 more elements
A method of treating osteoporosis in a bone tissue, comprising:
- emitting, by each of multiple emitting transducers, at least one acoustic signal into the bone tissue;
- detecting, by a dedicated receiving transducer, an echo reflected by a boundary of an osteoporotic region of the bone tissue as an echo corresponding to each of the at least one acoustic signals;
- determining, by a processor, a time delay for each of the detected echoes;
- determining, by the processor, boundaries of the osteoporotic region by calculating depths thereof based on the determining of the time delays and assumed speeds for each of the at least one acoustic signals;
- determining a location of the osteoporotic region in the bone tissue using the determined boundaries;
- determining, by the processor, an approximate volume of the osteoporotic region based on the determined boundaries of the osteoporotic region and comparing the determined boundaries to one or more geometric shapes of known volume;
- and
- utilizing the location and the approximate volume of the osteoporotic region to guide a surgical instrument to the osteoporotic region.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.