Optical Guide Keeps Orthopedic Surgeries On Target

Common orthopedic procedures, such as hip and pelvic fracture surgery as well as spinal fusion, require the accurate positioning of a thin metallic wire to guide the positioning of a fixating screw. However, the surgical procedure is often hampered by deflection, bending, and even breakage of the guide-wire, which then requires repair while complicating and prolonging the recovery of patients. Researchers at the Hebrew University's BioDesign program developed BendGuide, an opto-electronic drilling system that monitors and detects minute changes in guide-wire trajectory during surgery. It allows surgeons to correct drilling trajectories during the procedure itself. The system eliminates guide-wire bending or breakage and significantly reduces operation time while increasing safety. BendGuide uses a fiber bundle with a reflecting laser beam that enables detection of small deflections in wire trajectory. At a fully-aligned state, the beam power hits the center of the detector array. When deflected, mirror misalignment causes the power to spread differentially across the fiber bundle.

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00:00:14 surgery and spinal fusion of common orthopedic procedures that require the accurate positioning of a thin wire to guide the fixation school a webo the drilling procedure is often hampered by the collections pending an even breakage of the guide wire acquiring repair and complicating recovery the challenge is to obtain real-time information on guide wire deflection or bending allowing the

00:00:41 surgeon to adjust the procedure before damage occur our solution been guide is an opto-electronic drilling system that can monitor changes in guide wire trajectory using integrated fiber optics we are able to measure minus deviations and detective ending or deflection in wild trajectory by alerting the surgeon bed guide allows physician to change trajectories in real time eliminating

00:01:05 bending or breakage reducing total operation time and increasing safety the market of computer-aided navigation systems for surgery is growing fast bang guide is aimed to be an integral part of those systems the potential market is estimated 500 million dollars annually in the united states alone and is expected to grow with the aging population pen guide improved safety

00:01:29 saves operation time and reduces costs