A system for assisting an image-guided medical procedure relating one or more items of interest (205a...205f, 207) within an anatomy (201, 203, 213, 215) of a patient, the system comprising: a memory device adapted to receive one or more pre-operative images of the anatomy (201, 203, 213, 215) of the patient; and a tracked instrument (303, 403) that includes one or more sensor elements associated with a position sensing system, wherein the tracked instrument (303, 403) is adapted to provide patient space coordinates of the path of the tracked instrument (303, 403) within the anatomy (201, 203, 213, 215) of the patient in a frame of reference of the position sensing system; a control application adapted to determine image space coordinates of the one or more items of interest (205a...205f, 207) in a frame of reference of the one or more pre-operative images and to determine pre-operative image space coordinates of a predicted path (211, 301) of the tracked instrument within the anatomy of the patient in the frame of reference of the one or more pre-operative images; wherein the control application is adapted to register the pre-operative image space coordinates of the predicted path (211, 301) of the tracked instrument (303, 403) with the patient space coordinates of the path of the tracked instrument (303, 403) to produce at least one transformation matrix relating the frame of reference of the one or more pre-operative images to the frame of reference of the position sensing system; and a display module adapted to create a display indicating the relative locations of the instrument (303, 403) and the one or more items of interest (205a...205f, 207) using the at least one transformation matrix. a memory device adapted to receive one or more pre-operative images of the anatomy (201, 203, 213, 215) of the patient; and a tracked instrument (303, 403) that includes one or more sensor elements associated with a position sensing system, wherein the tracked instrument (303, 403) is adapted to provide patient space coordinates of the path of the tracked instrument (303, 403) within the anatomy (201, 203, 213, 215) of the patient in a frame of reference of the position sensing system; a control application adapted to determine image space coordinates of the one or more items of interest (205a...205f, 207) in a frame of reference of the one or more pre-operative images and to determine pre-operative image space coordinates of a predicted path (211, 301) of the tracked instrument within the anatomy of the patient in the frame of reference of the one or more pre-operative images; wherein the control application is adapted to register the pre-operative image space coordinates of the predicted path (211, 301) of the tracked instrument (303, 403) with the patient space coordinates of the path of the tracked instrument (303, 403) to produce at least one transformation matrix relating the frame of reference of the one or more pre-operative images to the frame of reference of the position sensing system; and a display module adapted to create a display indicating the relative locations of the instrument (303, 403) and the one or more items of interest (205a...205f, 207) using the at least one transformation matrix. a control application adapted to determine image space coordinates of the one or more items of interest (205a...205f, 207) in a frame of reference of the one or more pre-operative images and to determine pre-operative image space coordinates of a predicted path (211, 301) of the tracked instrument within the anatomy of the patient in the frame of reference of the one or more pre-operative images; wherein the control application is adapted to register the pre-operative image space coordinates of the predicted path (211, 301) of the tracked instrument (303, 403) with the patient space coordinates of the path of the tracked instrument (303, 403) to produce at least one transformation matrix relating the frame of reference of the one or more pre-operative images to the frame of reference of the position sensing system; and a display module adapted to create a display indicating the relative locations of the instrument (303, 403) and the one or more items of interest (205a...205f, 207) using the at least one transformation matrix.