SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SURGICAL THREE-DIMENSIONAL MAPPING AND PATH DETERMINATION

1 . A method for spinal surgery comprising:

receiving a planned rod contour;

using a flexible surgical sensor to generate a three-dimensional path, wherein the three-dimensional path represents a spinal contour of a patient; and

bending a spinal rod according to one of: the planned rod contour, the spinal contour of the patient, and a modified contour derived from the planned rod contour and/or the spinal contour of the patient.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises preoperatively generating the planned rod contour based on a desired spinal contour of the patient.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the spinal contour of the patient is a current spinal contour of the patient.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the spinal contour of the patient is a desired spinal contour of the patient.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the flexible surgical sensor is received by one or more pedicle screws to facilitate conformity of the flexible surgical sensor with the spinal contour.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the spinal rod comprises one or more notches configured to facilitate separation of a bent portion of the spinal rod from an unbent portion of the spinal rod.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the planned rod contour is divided into multiple spinal levels, wherein modifications are selected independently for each spinal level.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting the planned rod contour based on the spinal contour of the patient to generate the modified contour.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

calculating a delta vector based on the spinal contour of the patient and the planned rod contour; and

generating the modified contour based on the delta vector.

10 . A method for spinal surgery comprising:

receiving a planned rod contour;

using a flexible surgical sensor to generate a three-dimensional path, wherein the three-dimensional path represents a spinal contour of a patient; and

adjusting the planned rod contour based on the spinal contour of the patient to generate a modified contour.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising bending a spinal rod according to the modified contour.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the flexible surgical sensor is received by one or more pedicle screws to facilitate conformity of the flexible surgical sensor with the spinal contour.

13 . A system for facilitating spinal surgery comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured to store a planned rod contour;

a flexible surgical sensor configured to measure a spinal contour of a patient; and

a display device configured to overlay the planned rod contour with the spinal contour.

14 . The system of claim 13 , further comprising a rod bender configured to bend a spinal rod according to the planned rod contour.

15 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the spinal contour of the patient is a current spinal contour of the patient.

16 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the spinal contour of the patient is a desired spinal contour of the patient.

17 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is further configured to store data from the flexible surgical sensor.

18 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the flexible surgical sensor is configured to be received by one or more pedicle screws to facilitate conformity of the flexible surgical sensor with the spinal contour.

19 . The system of claim 13 , further comprising a processor configured to receive adjustment parameters from a user, and based on the adjustment parameters, generate a modified contour.

20 . The system of claim 13 , further comprising a processor configured to receive user modifications to the planned rod contour, and to modify the planned rod contour per the user modifications to generate a modified contour.