MyWebSpine is a telematic tool that approaches to surgeons and implant
designers the use of a sophisticated and clinically validated Finite Element
Model (FEM) of the lumbar spine for simulation.
The main goal of this service is that users with non-advanced
computer skills can profit of the simulation for a better understanding of the
biomechanical behaviour of instrumented human joints, thus reducing the probability
of implant failure by selecting an implant more appropriate to the patient's
characteristics and surgery type.
Simulation’s Architecture
The main elements of the portal’s architecture are the following:
- Simulation portal. Located at a remote Internet Service
Provider. It hosts all web pages visited by the end users, the application
and the central database.
- Simulation gateway. This server controls and triggers the
simulation cycle, acting as an interface between the simulation
portal and the simulation server. It is located at the model’s owner
facilities.
- Simulation server. This is the machine that hosts the simulation
engine, together with all necessary data transformation software. It provides the results
in form of text and graphics.
- Simulation engine. This comprises all software applications
that run the finite element models and which calculate the results of each
simulation request.
MyWebSpine is associated since 2005 to the orthoSIM
platform, the European Simulation Service Provider for Orthopaedic Surgery,
which is currently under market validation. In this platform, you can subscribe
to the orthoSIM
newsletter, which will keep you informed about any relevant news in
the orthopaedic surgery sector.
Simulation services
MyWebSpine operates in the following manner:
- The implant manufacturers interested supply their implants for mechanical
modelling and parameterization. This enables these implants to be used for
simulations.
- The implant manufacturers will sponsor this service to the surgeons, giving
them a login and free credits to carry out simulations using their implant
systems. Alternatively health centres insurance companies, universities, etc may buy credits
to launch unrestricted simulations.
- Clinical users and implant designers will launch simulations (single or
comparative studies) from the Web using their password. The portal will submit
useful results with a delay of less than one hour.
The simulation process follows several steps:
- The simulation gateway detects a pending simulation job at the simulations
portal’s input tray.
- The simulation gateway downloads the input data and any other relevant information
for launching the simulation.
- The simulation gateway provides the simulation server with all necessary
data and triggers the start of simulation.
- The simulation engine runs the simulation request and when finished, provides
the results to an output tray in the simulation server.
- The simulation gateway detects these results and transfers them to the simulation
portal.
- The simulation portal alerts the user of the pending results (by an email),
which are stored in the portal waiting for download.
The system delivers a dynamic graph showing the implant-patient behaviour,
as well as a summary report with the 'biomechanical analysis' established by
comparison with reference values.
Information services
The telematic platform has several functionalities oriented to the exploitation of knowledge within the clinical case database.
MyWebSpine is supported by a database of anonymous cases. This database is continously updated with presurgical and postsurgical patient information. This is necessary for validating the tool and this permits to hold open discussion among specialized forum members.
The system offers:
- A database of clinical cases, open for consultation.
- A virtual forum for professionals (threaded discussion boards, chats, document exchange,
etc).
- A virtual library for scientific articles and related research.
- A showcase of recommended products and innovations in the field of spine
implants.
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Visit also our dictionary to better understand the ORTHOSIM terminology
