Patent Document ID: 9508149
Application ID: 13900895
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for assisting reduction for complex fractures, the method comprising: receiving an x-ray image of a fractured bone having a plurality of bone fragments, a reference body connected to a bone fragment of the plurality of bone fragments of the fractured bone, the reference body having a plurality of radiopaque elements provided in a predetermined three-dimensional pattern within the reference body, the radiopaque elements spaced from the bone fragment; utilizing the plurality of radiopaque elements of the reference body to register the location of the bone fragments; identifying on the image at least one structural aspect of at least one of the bone fragments, the structural aspect selected from the group consisting of a point, a line, an arc, a centerpoint, an axis, a cylindrical surface, and a spherical surface; adapting a virtual bone model selected from a database of non-fractured virtual bone models to the imaged fractured bone based on the at least one identified structural aspect; using a computer to generate an overlay of the virtual bone model onto the x-ray image, with the virtual bone model aligned to the at least one identified structural aspect of the at least one bone fragment using the reference body; and repositioning the plurality of bone fragments so that the bone fragments fit into the contour of the selected non-fractured vertical bone model.