Measuring the remnant bone thickness during surgical drilling

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Spine surgeries may be performed for a number of reasons including scoliosis correction or spine traumas following an accident. Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is more common in girls with a peak prevalence of 1.2% at age 12. In most spine surgeries, the vertebrae are drilled to insert anchors required to hold prosthesis or implants in place. During vertebrae drilling, the surgeons must be careful while drilling through the bone as this may lead to permanent damage to the spinal cord. However, shallow drillings may lead to unstable anchors. Scoliosis surgery has a high rate of complications and assisting surgeons with innovative medical devices may help reduce this rate. The concept investigated in this grant application is to adapt a surgical tap to include ultrasonic transduction at the tip. The aim of the ultrasonic transduction is to locate targets such as the spinal cord along the tapping axis. Successful development of the proposed concept could then be applied to other surgical tools to improve patient safety.