Method for providing pelvic orientation information in computer-assisted surgery

1. A computer-assisted surgery system for guiding an operator in altering a pelvis for a subsequent insertion of a pelvic implant, comprising:

a sensing apparatus configured to track a reference tool securable to the pelvis and a bone altering tool at least in orientation;

a position calculator for calculating at least an orientation of a pelvic frame of reference as a function of a tracking of the reference tool, and for calculating at least an orientation of the bone altering tool with respect to the frame of reference when altering the pelvis;

a source of posture data being a tool digitizing a plane related to a given posture of the patient;

a posture data correction calculator operative to provide a display of information comprising the frame of reference corrected based on said posture data from the source of posture data when altering the pelvis; and

a display unit for displaying said display of information and the orientation of the bone altering tool with respect to the pelvic frame of reference.

2. The computer-assisted surgery system according to claim 1 , wherein said display of information is a corrected view of the frame of reference with respect to said posture data on the display unit.

3. The computer-assisted surgery system according to claim 1 , wherein said display of information is additional information relating the frame of reference to said posture data.

4. The computer-assisted surgery system according to claim 3 , wherein said additional information includes an anteversion value and an inclination value of the bone altering tool related to said posture data.

5. The computer-assisted surgery system according to claim 1 , wherein the tool is a registration tool trackable by the sensing apparatus, the registration tool being used with the position calculator to digitize a plane supporting the patient in the given posture with respect to the frame of reference, said posture data being associated with an orientation of said plane.

6. A method for guiding an operator in altering a pelvis for a subsequent insertion of a pelvic implant in computer-assisted surgery, comprising:

creating a frame of reference related to geometry information of a pelvis, the frame of reference being trackable at least in orientation;

obtaining a pelvic orientation relating to a given posture of the patient with respect to the frame of reference;

correcting the pelvic orientation as a function of an orientation of a plane supporting the patient in the given posture; and

altering the acetabulum for a subsequent insertion of the pelvic implant in the acetabulum by presenting information about a current implant orientation with respect to said corrected pelvic orientation, the current implant orientation being calculated as a function of a tracking of a surgical tool altering the acetabulum for receiving the pelvic implant, and of the frame of reference.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the current implant orientation comprises at least one of an anteversion value and an inclination value related to the orientation of the plane.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the current implant orientation is at least one of an anteversion value and an inclination value related to said corrected pelvic orientation.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein any one of the anteversion value and the inclination value is related to said corrected pelvic orientation by a display interface displaying a pelvis image oriented to said pelvic orientation in combination with an axis of any one of the anteversion value and the inclination value.

10. The method according to claim 8 , wherein any one of the anteversion value and the inclination value is calculated taking into account the orientation of the plane of reference with respect to the frame of reference.

11. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the current implant orientation is related to said corrected pelvic orientation by a display interface displaying a pelvis image oriented to said corrected pelvic orientation in combination with the current implant orientation.

12. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the method is performed on an anatomical bone model or on a cadaver.

13. A method for associating a frame of reference of a pelvis to a given posture of a patient in computer-assisted surgery, comprising:

creating a frame of reference of a pelvis with respect to a trackable reference; positioning the patient in a given posture with respect to a plane of reference;

digitizing the plane of reference with respect to the trackable reference such that orientation information associating the frame of reference to the given posture is calculable as a function of the orientation of the plane of reference; and

obtaining a display of information comprising the frame of reference corrected based on said orientation information.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the frame of reference comprises a frontal plane defined with outermost points of the anterior-superior iliac spines and an outermost point of any one of the pubic tubercles.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the given posture has a medio-lateral value defined by an angle between an axis lying in the frontal plane and being parallel to a segment passing through the outermost points of the anterior-superior iliac spines, and the plane of reference.

16. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the given posture has an anterior-posterior value defined by an angle between an axis lying in the frontal plane and being perpendicular to a segment passing through the outermost points of the anterior-superior iliac spines, and the plane of reference.

17. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the given posture has the back of the patient lying on the plane of reference.

18. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the method is performed on an anatomical bone model or on a cadaver.