3D robotic spine 'twin' and sensor offer new way to preview surgical interventions

Date:
January 19, 2022
Source:
Florida Atlantic University
Summary:
Researchers created a novel 3D printed robotic replica of a human
spine modified to include an artificial disc implant with a soft
magnetic sensor array to enable surgeons to preview the effects of
surgical interventions prior to the operation. The patient-specific
model was based on a CT scan of the human spine. Results showed
that the soft magnetic sensor array system had the high capability
to classify five different postures of the spine with 100 percent
accuracy, which can be a predictor of different problems of the
spine that people experience.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Degenerative disc disease affects about 40 percent of people aged 40, increasing to about 80 percent among those aged 80 or older. The disease,
which is the deterioration of one or more intervertebral discs of the
spine, often is surgically treated with cervical disc implants.


==========================================================================
In order to determine if a patient is a candidate for a cervical disc
implant, surgeons have to rely primarily on the findings of diagnostic
imaging studies, without any input from biomechanical data to optimize
the type of prosthesis.

This may occasionally lead to complications and implant failure.

To address these problems, Florida Atlantic University's Erik Engeberg,
Ph.D., senior author of the study, and researchers from the College of Engineering and Computer Science, in collaboration with Frank Vrionis,
M.D., senior author of the study and director of the Marcus Neuroscience Institute, part of Baptist Health, have created a novel robotic replica
of a human spine to enable surgeons to preview the effects of surgical interventions prior to the operation.

The researchers have developed a 3D printed spine replica modified to
include an artificial disc implant and outfitted with a soft magnetic
sensor array. The Marcus Neuroscience Institute has its hub on Boca Raton Regional Hospital's campus and satellite locations at Bethesda Hospital
in Boynton Beach and Deerfield Beach.

The patient-specific robotic spine model was based on a CT scan of the
human spine. A modified artificial disc was 'implanted' into the cervical
spine replica and the soft magnet was embedded in the vertebra replica. A robotic arm flexed and extended the cervical spine replica while the intervertebral loads were monitored with the soft magnetic sensor array
to classify the spine posture with four different machine-learning
algorithms. The algorithms classified the amplitude and the locations
that external loads were applied.

Researchers then compared the capabilities of the algorithms to classify
five different postures of the human spine robotic replica (center, mid-flexion, flexion, mid-extension and extension).

Results of the study, published in the journal Sensors,showed that the
soft magnetic sensor array system had the high capability to classify
the five different postures of the spine with 100 percent accuracy,
which can be a predictor of different problems of the spine that
people experience. These results indicate that the integration of the
soft magnetic sensor array within the artificial disc 'implanted,'
robotically actuated spine replica has the potential to generate physiologically relevant data before invasive surgeries, which could be
used preoperatively to assess the suitability of a particular intervention
for specific patients.

"A flexible magnetic sensor array is a new method to realize soft and stretchable magnets by mixing silicone with magnetic powder," said
Engeberg, a professor, Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering
within the College of Engineering and Computer Science, member of
FAU's Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences within the Charles
E. Schmidt College of Science, and a member of the FAU Stiles-Nicholson
Brain Institute. "These sensors are low- cost, highly sensitive,
and easily integrated into robotic systems as the soft medium can be manipulated in many shapes and sizes." In addition to preoperatively
assessing the suitability of a particular intervention for specific
patients, this new approach could potentially assist the postoperative
care of people with cervical disc implants. Currently, postoperative instructions for patients with spine implants are qualitative (do as
much as you can until the pain starts), creating fears in both the
patient and the surgeon. Questions regarding how much bending, lifting,
and exercising is permissible after a cervical implant operation could be studied and correlated with biomechanical data generated by the sensorized robotic replica with individually tailored postoperative care that could
be prescribed to reduce complications.

"This new approach has a powerful potential to enable surgeons to
preview and compare the effects of different surgical interventions in
a patient-specific manner using robotically actuated spine twins," said Vrionis. "Moreover, the novel system could help in determining whether
a constrained, semi-constrained, or unconstrained device could be the
best fit or even a fusion device.

Following surgery, the spine replica could also assist us in estimating
whether there is sufficient motion at the operated level and possibly
helping us to determine if we need to change the rehabilitation program
to prevent calcification and subsequent loss of intended motion." In the future, the researchers say that this sensor could also potentially be
coupled with CT scans to address the issue of spinal malalignment.

"Our new approach could provide surgeons with first-hand data to compare
the effects of different surgical interventions to treat diseases of the
spine before surgery and potentially reduce the rates of complication and failure of artificial disc implantation," said study co-author Chi-Tay
Tsai, Ph.D., a professor in FAU's Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering.

Study co-authors are Maohua Lin, Ph.D., research scientist; and Moaed
A. Abd, a Ph.D. student and research assistant, FAU's Department of Ocean
and Mechanical Engineering; and Alex Taing, an undergraduate student at
the University of Virginia.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Florida_Atlantic_University. Original written by Gisele Galoustian. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Maohua Lin, Moaed A. Abd, Alex Taing, Chi-Tay Tsai, Frank
D. Vrionis,
Erik D. Engeberg. Robotic Replica of a Human Spine Uses Soft
Magnetic Sensor Array to Forecast Intervertebral Loads and Posture
after Surgery.

Sensors, 2021; 22 (1): 212 DOI: 10.3390/s22010212 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220119090842.htm

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