Systems and methods for rod insertion planning and rod insertion

1 . A method for calculating an insertion point and a path for a rod, comprising:

receiving a surgical plan having at least one image and information about a position of at least one tower, the at least one image depicting a surgical region for a robotic or robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (MIS) procedure;

identifying, in the at least one image, a soft tissue portion and at least one anatomical element;

calculating an insertion point and a path from the insertion point to the at least one tower for a rod based on the identified soft tissue portion and at least one anatomical element;

generating, based on the calculating, machine readable instructions for use by a robotic arm to move for orienting the rod at the insertion point and moving the rod along the path;

commencing the MIS procedure by causing the robotic arm to move according to the machine readable instructions to thereby:

insert the rod at the calculated insertion point; and

begin moving the rod along the calculated path;

tracking at least the rod and the identified soft tissue portion following the commencement of the MIS procedure and in a coordinate system usable by the robotic arm;

determining, based on the tracking and on a periodic or continuous basis, whether a difference between a current pose of the robotic arm and an expected pose of the robotic arm along the calculated path meets a threshold;

updating the path for the rod in response to determining that the difference meets the threshold; and

generating, based on the updating, updated machine readable instructions for use by the robotic arm to move for implementing a corrective action.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one image is obtained from at least one of an MRI scanner, an ultrasound, or a CT scanner.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one image comprises a first image and a second image of the surgical region, the first image comprising hard tissue information and the second image comprising soft tissue information.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the first image is generated using a first imaging modality and the second image is generated using a second imaging modality.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

further in response to determining that the difference meets the threshold, creating and transmitting an alert to initiate a human review of the pose of the robotic arm comprising obtaining one or more additional images of the surgical region; and

upon completion of the human review, causing the robotic arm to move according to the updated machine readable instructions to thereby implement the corrective action.

6 . The method of claim 3 , wherein one of the first and second images is a preoperative image, and another of the first and second images is an intraoperative image.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the insertion point and the path is based on one or more inputs.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the at least one anatomical element uses at least one of feature recognition, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or a neural network.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the soft tissue portion uses segmentation.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the insertion point and the path is based on information about a geometry of the rod.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting, based on the tracking, movement of the soft tissue portion following the commencement of the MIS procedure, wherein updating the path for the rod comprises updating the path for the rod in response to detecting the movement of the soft tissue portion and based on characteristics of the movement of the soft tissue pertaining to the currently calculated path or an updated path for the rod.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the tracking comprises tracking the at least one tower, wherein the method further comprises detecting, based on the tracking, movement of the at least one tower following the commencement of the MIS procedure, and wherein updating the path for the rod comprises updating the path for the rod in response to detecting the movement of the at least one tower based on characteristics of the movement of the at least one tower.

13 . A method for inserting a rod, comprising:

receiving a surgical plan having information about an insertion point and a path of a rod to at least one tower, wherein the information includes at least one image depicting a surgical region for a robotic or robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (MIS) procedure;

identifying, in the at least one image, a soft tissue portion and at least one anatomical element;

generating machine readable instructions for use by a robotic arm to move for orienting the rod at the insertion point and moving the rod along the path;

commencing the MIS procedure by causing the robotic arm to move according to the machine readable instructions to thereby:

insert the rod at the insertion point; and

begin moving the rod along the path;

tracking at least the rod during insertion of the rod using the path following the commencement of the MIS procedure and in a coordinate system usable by the robotic arm;

determining, based on the tracking, a difference between a pose of the rod and the path;

updating the path when the difference meets a threshold; and

implementing a corrective action using the robotic arm according to the updated path.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising communicating the updated path to a user.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the tracking comprises tracking a soft tissue portion surrounding the rod.

16 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

calculating the insertion point and path from the insertion point to the at least one tower based on the identified soft tissue portion and at least one anatomical element.

17 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the tracking comprises tracking at least the rod using at least one of a navigation system, a marker, or a sensor.

18 . A system for calculating an insertion point and a path for a rod, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions for execution by the at least one processor that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

receive a surgical plan having at least one image and information about a position of at least one tower, the at least one image depicting a surgical region for a robotic or robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (MIS) procedure;

identify, in the at least one image, a soft tissue portion and at least one anatomical element;

calculate an insertion point and path from the insertion point to the at least one tower for a rod based on the identified soft tissue portion and at least one anatomical element, the at least one tower extending from an implanted pedicle screw;

generate, based on the calculated insertion point and path, machine readable instructions for use by a robot to orient the rod at the insertion point and move the rod along the path;

cause the robot to execute the machine readable instructions to thereby:

insert the rod at the calculated insertion point; and

move the rod along the calculated path;

track at least the rod following the insertion of the rod by the robot and in a coordinate system usable by the robot;

determine, based on the tracking of the rod and on a continuous or periodic basis, whether a difference between a current pose of the rod and an expected pose of the rod along the calculated path meets a threshold; and

in response to the difference being determined to meet the threshold:

receive an updated image of the surgical region including at least a portion of the rod;

compute an updated path for the rod based at least in part on the updated image; and

generate, based on the updated path, updated machine readable instructions for execution by the robot to implement a corrective action according to the updated path.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the at least one image is obtained from at least one of an MRI scanner, an ultrasound, or a CT scanner.

20 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the at least one image comprises a first image and a second image of the surgical region, the first image comprising hard tissue information and the second image comprising soft tissue information.