Patent ID: 8046052
Filing Date: 2011-10-25
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. An image guided navigation system for guiding an instrument through a region of a patient, said image guided navigation system comprising: a tracking device operable to track the position of the instrument in the region of the patient; a controller operable to receive anatomical gating information regarding a physiological event and receive captured image data of the region of the patient in response to said physiological event, and in communication with said tracking device and operable to automatically register said image data with the region of the patient at least with said physiological event by, a display operable to display the captured image data of the region of the patient with a superimposed icon representing the instrument, wherein said controller is further operable to superimpose the icon representing the instrument onto the image data of the region of the patient based upon the position tracked by said tracking device; wherein comparing the built virtual 3D curve with the shape of the anatomical curve in the captured image data includes executing instructions with the controller including at least one of pattern recognition algorithms or distance map algorithms to locate and find the specific shape of the built virtual 3D curve with an identified shape of the anatomical curve in the captured image data.