Patent ID: 11872091
Assignee: ALCON INC.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 0:
1. A method for guiding a surgeon performing a reconstructive or cosmetic procedure on a patient, said method comprising the steps of:
providing a first real-time multidimensional visualization of a portion of a target surgical site and one or more subsequent real-time multidimensional visualizations of the portion of the target surgical site, wherein the portion includes a fixed identifiable anatomical feature of the patient;
generating, at a first instant in time, a virtual surgical guide for display in conjunction with the first real-time multidimensional visualization such that the virtual surgical guide is aligned with respect to the fixed identifiable anatomical feature;
receiving, from a user, an indication that (a) a first portion of the virtual surgical guide is to remain fixed regardless of motion of the fixed identifiable anatomical feature, and (b) a second portion of the virtual surgical guide is to track motion of the fixed identifiable anatomical feature;
determining motion of the fixed identifiable anatomical feature, using image processing, by identifying a first location of the fixed identifiable anatomical feature within the first real-time multidimensional visualization, identifying one or more subsequent locations of the fixed identifiable anatomical feature within the one or more respective subsequent real-time multidimensional visualizations, and determining a difference between the first location and the one or more subsequent locations;
adjusting the virtual surgical guide such that the first portion of the virtual surgical guide remains fixed independent of the determined motion of fixed identifiable anatomical feature while the second portion of the virtual surgical guide is moved by the determined difference so as to be in the same position relative to the fixed identifiable anatomical feature after the determined motion; and
generating, at one or more subsequent instances of time after the first instance of time, the virtual surgical guide for display in conjunction respectively with the one or more subsequent real-time multidimensional visualizations such that the virtual surgical guide is aligned with respect to the fixed identifiable anatomical feature.