Surgical communication and power system
AssigneeSurgical Navigation Technologies, Inc.
InventorsMark W. Hunter, Paul Kessman, Brad Jascob
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for determining the position of a wireless catheter probe being used during a surgical procedure. Magnetic fields are projected into an anatomical body to induce voltage signals in a sensing coil that are sufficient to describe the position of a wireless sensor/transmitter. The voltage signals are wirelessly re-transmitted by the sensor/transmitter as positional signals indicative of a current location of the sensor/transmitter in the anatomical body. In a preferred embodiment, the wireless catheter probe is self-powered using the induced voltage signals on a sensing coil. In another embodiment, induced voltage signals of a separate coil are used to power the device.
Claims20
A surgical navigation apparatus for locating a wireless sensor/transmitter within an anatomical body during a surgical procedure, the apparatus comprising:
- at least one signal generator remote from the anatomical body for sending reference signals through the anatomical body to be received by the sensor/transmitter and to be wirelessly re-transmitted by the sensor/transmitter as positional signals indicative of a current location of the sensor/transmitter within the anatomical body;
- a receiver for receiving positional signals from the wireless sensor/transmitter;
- a processor for computing a position of the wireless sensor/transmitter as a function of the positional signals transmitted to the receiver;
- and
- a circuit associated with the processor for outputting position image information to a display device.
A wireless sensor/transmitter for use in surgical procedures to track the movement of structures within an anatomical body, comprising:
- a portion for receiving a reference signal from a reference signal generator that is remote from the anatomical body;
- and
- a portion for wirelessly transmitting the reference signal as a positional signal indicative of a current position of the sensor.
A surgical navigation apparatus for navigating a surgical instrument within an anatomical body during a surgical procedure, said surgical navigation apparatus comprising:
- a signal generator operable to transmit reference signals into the anatomical body from a site remote from the anatomical body;
- and
- a wireless sensor/transmitter attached to the surgical instrument, said wireless sensor/transmitter operable to receive said reference signals from said signal generator and operable to wirelessly transmit position signals indicative of a current location of the surgical instrument during the surgical procedure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.