Patent ID: 8400312

Claim:
An operation assisting system, which comprises: radiopaque markers ( 10 , 20 ) provided at predetermined points on a surface of a body of a patient, who is to be held in a predetermined operational posture on an operating table ( 60 ) kept in a fixed position, said predetermined points being placed in a vicinity of a bone ( 80 ) of the patient, which is to be subjected to an operation, and having respective constant positional relationships relative to said bone ( 80 ), said radiopaque markers having constant positional relationships to each other; a sensor ( 11 , 21 ) provided at a predetermined point on the surface of the body of said patient so as to have a constant positional relationship relative to said markers ( 10 , 20 ), said sensor being configured to detect at least inclination of the sensor relative to an imaginary reference plane (A), which is kept in a fixed position together with said operating table ( 60 ), said sensor enabling its positional relationship relative to the bone ( 80 ) to be acquired based on positional relationships between the bone ( 80 ) and the respective markers ( 10 , 20 ), which have been previously acquired through an X-ray photography; an arithmetic control unit ( 13 , 24 ) configured to receive a sensor output from said sensor ( 11 , 21 ) and acquire inclination of said bone ( 80 ) relative to said reference plane (A) based on the inclination as detected of the sensor ( 11 , 21 ) and the positional relationship thereof relative to the bone ( 80 ), as well as determine deviation between a proper inclination of the bone ( 80 ) relative to said reference plane (A), which the bone ( 80 ) should have during the operation to be performed on a site of the bone, and an actual inclination of the bone ( 80 ) relative to said reference plane (A), to generate an instruction image indicative of the deviation; and a display unit ( 14 , 25 ) configured to display said instruction image.