Patent ID: 11908565
Assignee: MAZOR ROBOTICS LTD.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  A | IPC A  G

Claim 23:
24. A method of modeling and predicting long-term success of a spinal implant configuration in a subject, comprising:
(a) for a plurality of potential implants, calculating a long-term stress score for at least one potential implant based on (i) stress within the at least one potential implant as determined using finite element analysis of a virtual configuration of the at least one potential implant virtually inserted into a preoperative image of a spine of a subject, (ii) calculated values of selected spinal parameters, and (iii) clinical data of the subject and from a database of similar cases;
(b) determining an acceptable long-term stress score range for the virtual configuration of the at least one potential implant based on (i) clinically relevant data of the subject, and (ii) similarly characterized cases from a medical database;
(c) when the long-term stress score for the for at least one potential implant does not fall within the acceptable long-term stress score range, selecting another potential implant from the plurality of potential implants, until the stress score of an optimal one of the potential implants falls within the acceptable long-term stress score range;
(d) intraoperatively inserting the optimal implant into the subject, the implant being adapted to have at least one mode of stress detection;
(e) using the at least one mode of stress detection to measure a stress at points along the inserted optimal implant to obtain a field pattern of stress of the inserted implant;
(f) inputting the field pattern of stress to a model to simulate an interaction between the spine and the inserted optimal implant over a given time period to determine expected changes in the field pattern of stress over the given time period;
(g) based on the expected changes in the field pattern of stress, calculating an optimal shape of the inserted optimal implant that causes the inserted optimal implant to have a minimum long term stress score over the given time period; and
(h) based on the calculations of step (g), adjusting the inserted optimal implant to the calculated optimal shape.