Spinal implant system and methods of use

1. A method for treating a spine, the method comprising the steps of:

imaging a patient anatomy including a vertebra;

selecting an implant strategy according to the imaging for a screw shaft;

generating fluoroscopic images of at least a portion of a robot;

registering the imaging of the patient anatomy with the fluoroscopic images;

engaging the screw shaft with the vertebra via the surgical driver according to the implant strategy;

acquiring a first set of data points representative of a three dimensional position of the screw shaft relative to the vertebra;

transmitting the first set of data points to a computer database;

manipulating the patient anatomy;

acquiring a second set of data points representative of a three dimensional position of the screw shaft relative to the vertebra subsequent to manipulating the patient anatomy;

transmitting the second set of data points to the computer database;

retrieving the second set of data points from the computer database;

aligning an implant receiver with the screw shaft according to the second set of data points; and

engaging the implant receiver with the screw shaft to comprise a bone screw.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the step of acquiring the first set of data points includes a navigation component of the surgical driver generating a signal representative of a position of the screw shaft relative to the surgical driver.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the surgical driver is connected with a surgical robot and the step of acquiring the first set of data points includes a navigation component of the surgical driver generating a signal representative of a position of the screw shaft relative to the surgical driver.

4. A method as recited in claim 3 , wherein the surgical robot includes position sensors and the step of acquiring the first set of data points includes the position sensors generating a signal representative of a position of the screw shaft relative to the surgical driver.

5. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the step of acquiring the first set of data points includes data points comprising a three-dimensional position of the screw shaft relative to the vertebra.

6. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the screw shaft has a head and the step of acquiring the first set of data points includes data points comprising a three-dimensional position of the head relative to the patient anatomy.

7. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the screw shaft has a head and the step of acquiring the first set of data points includes data points comprising a position of a center of the head relative to the patient anatomy.

8. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the step of acquiring the first set of data points includes data points representative of penetration depth of the screw shaft with the patient anatomy.

9. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the step of acquiring the first set of data points includes data points generated from a CT scan.

10. A method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising the step of displaying the first set of data points from a computer monitor.

11. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein engaging the implant receiver with the screw shaft includes inserting a head of the screw shaft into a cavity of the implant receiver.

12. A method as recited in claim 11 , further comprising the step of tracking placement of the implant receiver with the screw shaft.

13. A method as recited in claim 11 , further comprising the step of displaying indicia of confirmation of alignment of the implant receiver with the screw shaft.

14. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein engaging the implant receiver with the screw shaft comprises manually engaging the implant receiver with the screw shaft to connect the members.

15. A method as recited in claim 14 , wherein the step of manually engaging the members includes snap fitting the screw shaft with the implant receiver.

16. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the step of imaging a patient anatomy includes pre-operatively generating three dimensional images of the patient anatomy.

17. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the step of selecting the implant strategy includes pre-operative planning according to the imaging of the patient anatomy.

18. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the screw shaft includes a plurality of screw shafts and the implant strategy includes a plurality of screw trajectories for positioning the screw shafts with the vertebra and a second vertebra of the patient anatomy.

19. A method for treating a spine, the method comprising the steps of:

pre-operatively generating a CT scan of a patient anatomy including at least one vertebra;

selecting an implant strategy according to the CT scan for at least one bone screw shaft;

generating fluoroscopic images of at least a portion of a robot;

registering the CT scan with the fluoroscopic images;

engaging the bone screw shaft with the vertebra via robotic guidance according to the implant strategy;

acquiring a first set of data points representative of a three dimensional position of the at least one bone screw shaft relative to the at least one vertebra;

transmitting the first set of data points to a computer database;

subsequently, manipulating the patient anatomy;

acquiring a second set of data points representative of a three dimensional position of the at least one bone screw shaft relative to the at least one vertebra subsequent to manipulating the patient anatomy;

transmitting the second set of data points to the computer database;

retrieving the second set of data points from the computer database;

aligning an implant receiver with the bone screw shaft according to the second set of data points; and

manually engaging the implant receiver with the bone screw shaft to comprise a bone screw.

20. A method for treating a spine, the method comprising the steps of:

imaging vertebral tissue;

selecting an implant strategy for at least one bone screw shaft;

registering the imaging of the vertebral tissue with imaging of a robot connected with the vertebral tissue;

connecting a surgical driver with the bone screw shaft, the surgical driver including an image guide oriented relative to a sensor to communicate a signal representative of a three dimensional position of the bone screw shaft relative to the vertebral tissue;

engaging the bone screw shaft with the vertebral tissue via robotic guidance according to the implant strategy;

acquiring a first set of data points representative of the three dimensional position of the at least one bone screw shaft according to the signal;

transmitting the first set of data points to a computer database;

subsequently, manipulating the vertebral tissue;

acquiring a second set of data points representative of a three dimensional position of the bone screw shaft relative to the vertebral tissue subsequent to manipulating the vertebral tissue;

transmitting the second set of data points to the computer database;

retrieving the second set of data points from the computer database;

aligning an implant receiver with the bone screw shaft according to the second set of data points; and

manually engaging the implant receiver with the bone screw shaft to comprise a bone screw.