System and methods for intraoperative guidance feedback

A method of operating a surgical guidance system, the surgical guidance system comprising:

• a storage medium storing segmented pre-operative image data, the segmented pre-operative image data comprising a plurality of vertebral surface segments, each vertebral surface segment characterizing a different vertebra of a set of vertebrae of a patient;
• a surface topography imaging system comprising:
• an optical projection device configured to project optical radiation onto an exposed surface of the patient such that backscattered optical radiation is suitable for optical surface topography detection;
• and
• at least one camera configured for imaging the backscattered optical radiation;
• and
• a surgical guidance controller operatively connected to the surface topography imaging system and the storage medium, wherein the surgical guidance controller includes a processor;
• the method comprising, using the processor:
• controlling the optical projection device to illuminate the exposed surface and obtain intraoperative topographical image data associated with the exposed surface;
• registering the intraoperative topographical image data to each vertebral surface segment, thereby obtaining a respective transformation for each vertebra;
• and
• employing the transformations to provide feedback indicative of one or both of a relative change in intraoperative distance and a relative change in intraoperative orientation of at least one vertebra.

A method of providing surgical guidance, comprising:

• storing segmented pre-operative image data in a storage medium, the segmented pre-operative image data comprising a plurality of vertebral surface segments, each vertebral surface segment characterizing a different vertebra of a set of vertebrae of a patient;
• employing a surface topography imaging system to:
• project optical radiation onto an exposed surface of the patient such that backscattered optical radiation is suitable for optical surface topography detection;
• and
• image the backscattered optical radiation using at least one camera to obtain intraoperative topographical image data associated with the exposed surface;
• registering the intraoperative topographical image data to each vertebral surface segment, thereby obtaining a respective transformation for each vertebra;
• and
• employing the transformations to provide feedback indicative of one or both of a relative change in intraoperative distance and a relative change in intraoperative orientation of at least one vertebra.