Automated Cut Planning For Removal of Diseased Regions

A method of operating a surgical system configured to remove a diseased region of an anatomy, the surgical system comprising a surgical tool, a navigation system comprising a localizer configured to track the surgical tool and the anatomy, and a control system coupled to the surgical tool and the navigation system, wherein the method comprises:

• performing, with the control system, automated planning of a virtual cutting boundary to facilitate removal of the diseased region by:
• obtaining a virtual model including the diseased region and a healthy region of the anatomy;
• obtaining a virtual cutting surface defining a region to be removed from the anatomy;
• placing the virtual cutting surface relative to the diseased region in the virtual model;
• executing an optimization algorithm for:
• specifying an optimization criterion that minimizes an amount of healthy region to be removed by the virtual cutting surface;
• initializing, relative to the virtual cutting surface, candidate solutions influencing characteristics of the virtual cutting surface;
• identifying a candidate solution that satisfies the optimization criterion;
• modifying characteristics of the virtual cutting surface based on the identified candidate solution;
• and
• defining the virtual cutting boundary relative to diseased region in the virtual model based on the modified virtual cutting surface;
• registering, with the navigation system, the virtual cutting boundary to the anatomy;
• and
• controlling, with the control system, operation of the surgical tool to facilitate removal of the diseased region by utilizing the registered virtual cutting boundary for constraining movement and/or operation of the surgical tool in response to the surgical tool interacting with the registered virtual cutting boundary.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, perform automated planning of a virtual cutting boundary to facilitate removal of a diseased region of an anatomy by being configured to:

• obtain a virtual model including the diseased region and a healthy region of the anatomy;
• obtain a virtual cutting surface defining a region to be removed from the anatomy;
• place the virtual cutting surface relative to the diseased region in the virtual model;
• execute an optimization algorithm that is configured to:
• specify an optimization criterion that minimizes an amount of healthy region to be removed by the virtual cutting surface;
• initialize, relative to the virtual cutting surface, candidate solutions configured to influence characteristics of the virtual cutting surface;
• identify a candidate solution that satisfies the optimization criterion;
• modify characteristics of the virtual cutting surface based on the identified candidate solution;
• and
• define the virtual cutting boundary relative to diseased region in the virtual model based on the modified virtual cutting surface;
• and
• configure the virtual cutting boundary to be registered to the anatomy and configure the virtual cutting boundary to constrain movement and/or operation of a surgical tool in response to interaction of the surgical tool with the registered virtual cutting boundary.