Patent attributes
The invention provides a system for enhancing the ability of a surgeon to access a target site within a patient. The system includes a data file containing volumetric scan data of a region of the patient that includes the target site, a display device, and a movable imagining tool for producing on the display device, an image of visible patient structure seen by the tool. A computer in the system operates to (i) determine the position and/or orientation of the tool in the frame of reference of the patient, (ii) identify the scan-data coordinates (either x,y or x,y,z coordinates) of the target site, and (iii) project on the video image on the display device, indicia that indicate the lateral position of the target site with respect to the patient structure imaged on the display device.
