ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,362,057, issued on July 15, was assigned to HOWMEDICA OSTEONICS CORP. (Mahwah, N.J.).

"Virtual guidance for orthopedic surgical procedures" was invented by Sergii Poltaretskyi (Plougonvelin, France), Jean Chaoui (Locmaria Plouzane, France) and Damien Cariou (Loperhet, France).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An example method includes displaying, via a visualization device and overlaid on a portion of an anatomy of a patient viewable via the visualization device, a virtual model of the portion of the anatomy obtained from a virtual surgical plan for an orthopedic joint repair surgical procedure to attach a prosthetic to the anatomy; and dis...