Patent ID: 7860282

Claim:
A method for supporting an interventional medical operation via a 3-dimensional image data set generated prior to the operation, comprising: coupling a positioning system for a medical instrument used for the operation with a coordinate system of the 3-dimensional image data set; positioning the instrument for the medical operation; determining an instrument image data point that identifies the instrument position in the 3-dimensional image data set; determining a target image data point in the 3-dimensional image data set in a target region into which the instrument is to be guided, wherein the user determines a surface which surrounds the target region, and the target image data point is the center of gravity of the target region; determining a contour plane from a plurality of planes available to a user, the plurality of planes including the instrument image data point and the target image data point, wherein each plane is defined by the instrument image data point, the target image data point and a respective degree of tilt about a rotation axis representing a straight line connection between the instrument image data point and the target image data point; selecting one of the pluralities of planes as the contour plane in response to the user inputting a numerical value for the respective tilt angle for said one plane; selecting a data selection suitable for a 2-dimensional display from the 3-dimensional data set via the instrument image data point and the target image data point, wherein the data selection consists of the selected contour plane; displaying the 2-dimensional display of the data selection on a monitor during the interventional operation; and registering an x-ray system with the 3-dimensional data set, wherein the x-ray system generates an x-ray exposure overlaid on the 2-dimensional display based on the selected contour plane wherein the x-ray exposure is recorded during the intervention operation wherein the x-ray exposure provides a visualization of: a position of the instrument image data point, or a position of the target image data point, or a movement direction of the instrument from the instrument image data point to the target image data point.