Surgical location monitoring system and method

A system for monitoring a surgical site, comprising:

• a fiducial reference comprising a fiducial key and a fiducial extension rigidly and removably attached to the fiducial key, the fiducial key capable of attaching to a location proximate to a surgical site, at least one of the fiducial key and the fiducial extension having a marking perceptible on a scan;
• a marker having a fixed connection with the at least one of the fiducial key and the fiducial extension;
• a non-stereo optical tracker for observing the surgical site and transmitting image information of the surgical site;
• and
• a computing device in communication with the tracker and having software capable of recognizing the at least one of the fiducial key and the fiducial extension and calculating a model of the surgical site based on the scan, the identity of the at least one of the fiducial key and the fiducial extension, and the image information received from the tracker.

A system for monitoring a surgical site, comprising:

• a fiducial reference comprising a fiducial key and a fiducial extension rigidly and removably attached to the fiducial key, the fiducial key capable of attaching to an internal location proximate to a surgical site such that the at least one of the fiducial key and the fiducial extension is at least partially non-visible during the surgical procedure, the at least one of the fiducial key and the fiducial extension having a marking perceptible on a scan;
• a marker having a fixed connection with the fiducial key;
• an optical tracker for observing the surgical site and transmitting image information about the surgical site;
• and
• a computing device in communication with the tracker and having a software program capable of recognizing at least one of the fiducial key and the fiducial extension and calculating a model of the surgical site based on the scan, the identity of the at least one of the fiducial key and the fiducial extension, and the image information received from the tracker.

A system for monitoring a surgical site, comprising:

• a single fiducial reference comprising a fiducial key and a fiducial extension rigidly and removably attached to the fiducial key, the fiducial key capable of attaching to a location proximate to a surgical site, at least one of the fiducial key and the fiducial extension having a marking perceptible on a scan;
• a first marker having a fixed connection with the fiducial key;
• an optical tracker for observing the surgical site and transmitting image information about the surgical site;
• and
• a computing device in communication with the tracker and having a software program capable of recognizing the at least one of the fiducial key and the fiducial extension and calculating a model of the surgical site based on the scan, the identity of the at least one of the fiducial key and the fiducial extension, and the image information received from the tracker.

A position monitoring system for surgical procedures comprising:

• a fiducial reference comprising a fiducial key and a fiducial extension rigidly and removably attached to the fiducial key, the fiducial key adapted to be fixed to an area of a surgical patient;
• a first marker attached to the fiducial key in a predetermined orientation;
• at least one second marker attached to at least one corresponding implement, a non-stereo optical tracker able to determine the positions and orientations of the first and at least one second marker;
• a computer system having a scan of the patient with the fiducial key fixed to the area of the surgical patient, the computer system coupled to the tracker and including a processor with memory and a software program having a series of instructions which when executed by the processor determines the relative positions and orientations of the first marker and the at least one further marker based on image information from the tracker, and relates the current arrangement of the at least one implement in relation to the scan data;
• and
• a display system in communication with the computer system, the display system adapted to show a current spatial arrangement of the at least one implement relative to the patient scan data during the surgical procedure.

A method for monitoring a surgical site, comprising:

• attaching a fiducial key to a location proximate to a surgical site;
• rigidly and removably attaching a fiducial extension to the fiducial key;
• creating a first scan of the surgical location with the fiducial key attached to the location proximate to a surgical site and the fiducial extension rigidly and removably attached to the fiducial key;
• obtaining image information from a non-stereo optical tracker proximate the surgical site;
• communicating the image information from the optical tracker to a computing device;
• and
• calculating and displaying a model of the surgical site by means of the computing device based on the scan, the identity of at least one of the fiducial key and the fiducial extension, and the image information received from said tracker.