Systems and methods for surgical and interventional planning, support, post-operative follow-up, and functional recovery tracking

Abstract

Various systems and methods are provided for surgical and interventional planning, support, post-operative follow-up, and functional recovery tracking. In general, a patient can be tracked throughout medical treatment including through initial onset of symptoms, diagnosis, non-surgical treatment, surgical treatment, and recovery from the surgical treatment. In one embodiment, a patient and one or more medical professionals involved with treating the patient can electronically access a comprehensive treatment planning, support, and review system. The system can provide recommendations regarding diagnosis, non-surgical treatment, surgical treatment, and recovery from the surgical treatment based on data gathered from the patient and the medical professional(s). The system can manage the tracking of multiple patients, thereby allowing for data comparison between similar aspects of medical treatments and for learning over time through continual data gathering, analysis, and assimilation to decision-making algorithms.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A medical system, comprising:
 a processor configured to:
 receive treatment plan data regarding a plurality of patients, the treatment plan data including a plan of medical treatment corresponding to each of the patients, each of the plans having associated therewith at least one medical diagnosis in common with all of the plans; 
 determine effectiveness of each of the plans; 
 determine a suggested plan of medical treatment for a patient based on the determined effectiveness, the patient having the at least one medical diagnosis; and 
 provide the suggested plan to a user. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to receive compliance data regarding compliance of the patients with their corresponding plans; and
 determining the effectiveness includes determining based on the compliance data an extent of each patient's compliance with their corresponding plans.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein determining the suggested plan includes choosing at least a one of the plans having a highest level of compliance. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the plans for a first subset of the patients include a non-surgical treatment, the plans for a second subset of the patients include a surgical treatment, and determining the suggested plan includes comparing outcomes of the non-surgical treatments with outcomes of the surgical treatments. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein determining the suggested plan includes choosing at least a one of the plans having a best outcome among the surgical treatments and the non-surgical treatments. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein determining the effectiveness includes determining an effect of each of the plans on the at least one medical diagnosis, and determining the suggested plan includes choosing at least a one of the plans having a most desired effect on the at least one medical diagnosis. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to receive performance data regarding performances of surgical procedures included in each of the plans that include performance of the surgical procedure as at least part of the medical treatment; and
 determining the effectiveness includes choosing at least a one of the plans based at least on the performance data.   
     
     
         8 - 17 . (canceled) 
     
     
         18 . A medical system, comprising:
 a storage unit configured to:
 store a plurality of medical diagnoses, each of the diagnoses having a plurality of patient-specific factors associated therewith, the patient-specific factors including at least symptoms, 
 store a plurality of medical treatments, each of the treatments having one or more of the medical diagnoses associated therewith, and 
 store an effectiveness of each of the treatments as related to their associated one or more medical diagnoses; and 
   a processor configured to:
 receive symptom data indicating a plurality of symptoms experienced by a patient, 
 determine which one or more of the stored medical diagnoses are associated with the received plurality of symptoms, 
 provide the determined medical diagnoses to a user, 
 determine which one or more of the treatments are associated with the determined medical diagnoses, and 
 provide at least one of the determined treatments to the user, the at least one of the determined treatments having the highest effectiveness associated therewith. 
   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the stored effectiveness for each of the treatments is based at least on compliances of previous patients with a treatment plan associated with the treatment. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the stored effectiveness for each of the treatments is based at least on an effect of the treatment on the one or more medical diagnoses associated therewith. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the stored effectiveness for each of the treatments is based at least on an outcome a surgical procedure included as part of the treatment. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the stored effectiveness for each of the treatments is based at least on compliances of previous patients with a post-surgery treatment plan associated with the surgical procedure. 
     
     
         23 - 30 . (canceled) 
     
     
         31 . A medical system, comprising:
 a processor configured to:
 receive plan data regarding a virtual performance of a surgical procedure on a patient; 
 receive performance data regarding an actual performance of the surgical procedure on the patient, the performance data being received in real time with the actual performance of the surgical procedure, and the virtual performance of the surgical procedure having been performed prior to the actual performance of the surgical procedure; 
 determine if the plan data varies from the performance data; 
 if the plan data is determined to vary from the performance data, provide a warning to a user, the warning including an indication of the determined variance, and repeat the determining for subsequent performance data received in real time with the actual performance of the surgical procedure; and 
 if the plan data is determined to not vary from the performance data, repeat the determining for subsequent performance data received in real time with the actual performance of the surgical procedure. 
   
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the processor is configured to receive plan data regarding a plurality of virtual performances of the surgical procedure on a plurality of patients;
 receive performance data regarding a plurality actual performances of the surgical procedure on the plurality of patients, the performance data being received in real time with the actual performances of the surgical procedures;   determine if the plan data regarding the plurality of virtual performances varies from the performance data regarding the plurality actual performances;   determine if any one or more of the determined variances are a same type of variance; and   provide a recommendation to a user performing another virtual performance of the surgical procedure based on the one or more determined variances determined to be the same type of variance.   
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the indication of the determined variance includes a recommended course of action to match the actual performance of the surgical procedure to the virtual performance of a surgical procedure. 
     
     
         34 . (canceled) 
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein a type of the received performance data comprises at least one of data regarding movement of a surgical instrument being used in the actual performance of the surgical procedure, movement of staff present for the actual performance of the surgical procedure, patient vital signs, identification of a surgical instrument being used in the actual performance of the surgical procedure, identification of staff present in the actual performance of the surgical procedure, an amount of tissue retraction, a duration of tissue retraction, and one or more real time images of the patient acquired during the actual performance of the surgical procedure; and
 a type of the received plan data corresponds to the type of the received performance data.   
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the determined variance comprises at least one of a surgical instrument being moved relative to the patient than in the actual performance of the surgical procedure different than in the virtual performance of the surgical procedure, a surgical implant being used in the actual performance of the surgical procedure being implanted at a different location within the patient than the surgical implant used in the virtual performance of the surgical procedure, different radiation exposures in the actual performance of the surgical procedure and the virtual performance of the surgical procedure, different lengths of tissue retraction time in the actual performance of the surgical procedure and the virtual performance of the surgical procedure, different pharmaceutical administration to the patient in the actual performance of the surgical procedure than in the virtual performance of the surgical procedure, a different number of staff being present in the actual performance of the surgical procedure than a number of virtual staff present in the virtual performance of the surgical procedure, a different duration of a step in the actual performance of the surgical procedure than in the virtual performance of the surgical procedure, a different surgical instrument being used in a step of the actual performance of the surgical procedure than in the virtual performance of the surgical procedure, and a step performed in the virtual performance of the surgical procedure not having been performed in the actual performance of the surgical procedure. 
     
     
         37 - 45 . (canceled) 
     
     
         46 . A medical system, comprising:
 a processor configured to:
 receive post-surgery treatment plan data regarding a plurality of patients, the post-surgery treatment plan data including a plan of medical treatment corresponding to each of the patients, each of the plans having associated therewith at least one surgical procedure in common with all of the plans; 
 determine an effectiveness of each of the plans; 
 determine a suggested plan of medical treatment for a patient based on the determined effectiveness, the patient having had the at least one surgical procedure performed thereon; and 
 provide the suggested plan to a user. 
   
     
     
         47 . The system of  claim 46 , wherein the processor is configured to receive compliance data regarding compliance of the patients with their corresponding plans;
 wherein determining the effectiveness includes determining based on the compliance data an extent of each patient's compliance with their corresponding plans.   
     
     
         48 . The system of  claim 47 , wherein determining the suggested plan includes choosing at least a one of the plans having a highest level of compliance. 
     
     
         49 . The system of  claim 46 , wherein determining the effectiveness includes determining an effect of each of the plans on at least one medical diagnosis, and determining the suggested plan includes choosing at least a one of the plans having a most desired effect on the at least one medical diagnosis, the patient having been diagnosed with the at least one medical diagnosis. 
     
     
         50 - 107 . (canceled)