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Teguar Medical Computer used with AR Guided Spine Surgery System

Teguar’s TM-5010-24 Medical Computer is part of a groundbreaking augmented reality (AR) guidance system that allows surgeons to “see through” a patient’s anatomy as if they have “x-ray vision.” The spine surgical system is the first AR guidance system to be used in surgery and is currently approved for use in open and minimally invasive spine implant procedures. This system allows surgeons to maintain their focus directly on the patient, rather than on a distant screen, giving the surgeon better control and visualization, which may lead to easier, faster and safer surgeries. 

The system consists of a transparent near-eye-display headset and all elements of a traditional navigation system. It accurately determines the position of surgical tools, in real-time, and superimposes them on the patient's CT data. The navigation data is then projected onto the surgeon’s retina using the headset, allowing him or her to simultaneously look at the patient and the navigation data.

Teguar’s 23.8 inch All-in-One Medical Computer is used to run the system and display what the surgeon is seeing through the AR headset. The TM-5010-24 is a mission critical part of this application. If the computer fails, the surgery cannot be done. Teguar’s TM-5010-24 was the best fit for this application because it meets the latest medical certification, it has a large, high-definition touchscreen and it runs on the Intel Core i5 Skylake CPU. This PC is 60601-1 Medically Certified, which is important in many surgical applications, when the computer plays a critical part in the surgery. The TM-5010-24 also has the option to add an NVIDIA P260 or P2200 graphics card, for better image processing and control.

Teguar and the customer worked together closely to configure the computer for the spinal surgery system. A webcam, RFID, and barcode scanner were added to the computer, all of which can be used to scan and identify surgical instruments. For example, if the surgeon scans a pedicle screw, the system will identify the manufacturer, shape, length and diameter of the screw. This helps the surgeon navigate. The 5MP webcam also allows other clinicians to watch the surgery remotely or record the surgery. Finally, Teguar added an internal cable to the computer, so that the NVIDA P2200 can be used as a CPU to calculate algorithms faster.

Teguar offers long-term availability for this computer, which is essential for medical applications such as this one. Consumer-grade computer providers and some medical computer providers cannot offer a long enough product lifecycle. When the computer goes end-of-life, the customer has to find a new computer and integrate it with their system. Sometimes this requires recertification as well, which can take years. Having a support team in the US was important to this customer as well. Troubleshooting and repair is much easier and quicker when you have a reliable, local support team.

Photos credit: Rush University Medical Center

Teguar is happy to be part of exciting, ground-breaking applications, such as this one. If you have a project, whether it be unique and complex or more straightforward, our product experts will be happy to begin a free product consultation. Contact us or request a demo.