Patent ID: 6226547
Filing Date: 2001-05-01
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
A catheter tracking system for determining the location and orientation of a catheter, said tracking system comprising a plurality of magnetic field transducers and a control unit coupled to said plurality of magnetic field transducers and arranged to energize said plurality of magnetic field transducers to generate or detect magnetic fields, wherein:one of said plurality of magnetic field transducers is disposed on said catheter proximate a distal end thereof, and others of said plurality of magnetic field transducers are disposed at reference positions with respect to each other, and arranged to be substantially independent in accordance with an external calibration method; andconsequent upon detection of magnetic fields generated by selected ones of said plurality of transducers, said control unit operates to process detected signals representative of said detected magnetic fields, to determine three location co-ordinates and two orientation co-ordinates of said catheter with respect to a reference frame defined by said reference transducers.