Patent ID: 9579043
Date: 2017-02-28
CPC Classifications: A61B

Claim:
1. A surgical method for measuring a change in anatomical position or orientation, comprising: mechanically connecting a first electronic module to a second electronic module; synchronizing a coordinate system of the first electronic module with a coordinate system of the second electronic module while the first and second electronic modules are mechanically connected to one another; rigidly attaching the first electrode module to a first surgical device; rigidly attaching the second electronic module to a second surgical device; detecting an absolute angle with respect to the earth of the first electronic module attached to the first surgical device by a sensor of the first electronic module, the first surgical device being operatively coupled with a first vertebra of a patient; detecting an absolute angle with respect to the earth of the second electronic module attached to the second surgical device by a sensor of the second electronic module, the second surgical device being operatively coupled with a second vertebra of the patient; removing bone between the first and second vertebrae at an osteotomy site to cause movement of at least one of the first and second electronic modules; calculating by a processor of at least one of the first and second electronic modules a change in an angle of the first electronic module with respect to the second electronic module multiple times during a surgery to determine a change in an angle of the first surgical device with respect to the second surgical device; and conveying to a user the change in the angle of the first surgical device with respect to the second surgical device to thereby assist the user in determining a change in an angle of the first vertebra with respect to the second vertebra.