Methods for data processing for intra-operative navigation systems

1. A machine readable medium containing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving an input dataset comprising one or more medical images containing a spine level of interest for a patient; and

generating an optimized anatomical dataset for the spine level of interest wherein the optimized anatomical data set comprises one or more of a target disc height, a target anterior-posterior offset, and a target lordosis angle, and further wherein the step of generating an optimized anatomical dataset for the spine level of interest comprises the steps of:

identifying zero, one, or more visible spine levels in the one or more medical images to exclude from analysis; and

accessing one or more image-derived measurements of a disc height measurement, an anterior-posterior offset measurement, and a sagittal lordosis angle measurement for one or more non-excluded spine levels; and

applying a function to the one or more measurements from accessing one or more image-derived measurements to generate an optimized value for the spine level of interest for one or more of the target disc height, the target anterior-posterior offset, and the target lordosis angle.

2. The machine readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the function receives an input and applies one or more adjustments to correct for an assumed post-operative subsidence of an interbody device over time.

3. The machine readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the one or more adjustments is a disc height adjustment, an anterior-posterior offset adjustment, and a lordosis angle adjustment.

4. The machine readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more medical images excluded from analysis is excluded independently for one or more of an excluded disc height measurement, an excluded anterior-posterior offset, and an excluded sagittal lordosis angle.

5. The machine readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the function is one of an average function and a distribution function, and further wherein an input is selected from a medical literature.

6. The machine readable medium of claim 1 , wherein a surgical navigation system user may specify a gross lordosis target for an entire region of a spine and wherein the function distributes one or more gross lordosis regional targets across a user-specified set of levels targeted for fusion surgery.

7. A processor for generating estimates of a weight carried at a spine level of interest, wherein the processor is programmed to execute:

accessing an input dataset for a patient comprising a weight of the patient, one or more image-derived measurements of a spatial relationships between two or more vertebral bodies visible within one or more images;

allowing a user to specify a spine level of interest; and

projecting an estimated weight carried at the spine level of interest by:

looking-up one or more values from a previously published mass distribution function, wherein the mass distribution function comprises a set of percentage values associated with various bodily regions such that the sum of the set of percentage values equals 100%;

summing x from the mass distribution function elements for all bodily regions cranial to a spinal region of interest;

calculating y from the image-derived measurements of the spatial relationships between vertebral bodies from the input dataset, by determining an estimated percentage of the region of interest that is cranial to a spinal level of interest;

summing x and y; and

multiplying the sum of x and y by a weight of the patient to determine the weight carried at the spine level of interest.

8. The processor for generating estimates of the weight carried at the spine level of interest of claim 7 further comprising:

calculating a sheer and a compressive component of the weight carried at the spine level of interest, using the image-derived measurements of the angulation between vertebral body endplates and a plumb line.

9. The processor for generating estimates of the weight carried at the spine level of interest of claim 7 wherein the input dataset contains patient-specific data and wherein the computational routine incorporates a lookup function that returns a mass distribution which is a function of the patient-specific data.

10. The processor for generating estimates of the weight carried at the spine level of interest of claim 9 wherein the patient-specific data is selected from age, gender, and height.

11. The processor for generating estimates of the weight carried at the spine level of interest of claim 7 wherein previously published mass distribution function is one selected by the user from among a set of available functions.

12. A processor for use with surgical navigation systems used for spinal surgery wherein the processor is programmed to execute:

receiving an input dataset comprising one or more medical images containing a spine level of interest; and

generating measurements of an operating range of the spine level of interest, comprising measurements of at least one of a minimum linear displacement between a pair of adjacent vertebral body corner-points from the spine level of interest and a maximum linear displacement between a pair of adjacent vertebral body corner-points from the spine level of interest by executing a computational process comprising:

accessing one or more medical images containing the spine level of interest from the input dataset, and further accessing one or more measurements from each image of at least one of the minimum linear displacement and the maximum linear displacement; and

applying at least one of a maximum function and a minimum function to the measurement sets to determine a maximum linear displacement value for a pair of adjacent corner points and a minimum linear displacement values for the pair of adjacent corner-points; and

rendering data usable by a surgical navigation system based on the operating range measurements.

13. The processor of claim 12 , wherein the rendering of data usable by a surgical navigation system supports a visual display of the operating range measurements by the surgical navigation system.

14. The processor of claim 12 , wherein the data rendered triggers an alert to a surgical navigation system user when the operating range measurement for the spine level of interest is outside of a user-determined threshold value.