SpineGuard (FR0011464452 – ALSGD), an innovative company that deploys its DSG® (Dynamic Surgical Guidance) local conductivity sensing technology to secure and streamline the placement of bone implants, today announced that its patent application directed to enhance safety of bone drilling power tools thanks to a DSG-enabled active safety stop, has received a decision to grant from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Stéphane Bette, Deputy CEO and cofounder of SpineGuard, said: “We are particularly proud of the grant of this new patent, which is a cornerstone in our strategic development in the United States, the first market worldwide in our sector. For years, SpineGuard has pioneered employing its unique DSG guidance technology to secure and enhance surgical tools in skeletal surgery. More recently, we have developed with the academic ecosystem, algorithms to automatically detect bone breach situations in robotic drilling. With this newly granted patent in the United States, SpineGuard presents and protects a breakthrough innovation: an active safety stop applicable to hand-held bone drilling power tools. Conceptually, it allows for broad applications in today’s as well as tomorrow’s surgery, whether in free-hand, navigated, or robot-assisted surgery. We intend to leverage our IP and related product design work toward technology deals with the industry in a near future.”
Since its inception, SpineGuard has developed and maintained a significant IP portfolio currently including 11 patent families totaling 72 patents and applications as well as 3 trademarks, in the major geographies such as Europe, USA and China. The new patent object of this communication and about to be granted, is the fourth granted patent by SpineGuard in the United States belonging to the category of DSG-enabled “smart” assisted surgery. That is, where the DSG signal is exploited by software/ algorithmic intelligence in real time to provide assistance to skeletal surgery, such as providing audio and visual color-coded warning signals, or triggering a safety stop mechanism to block the progress of a drilling tool when a near-breach situation is encountered.