Patent ID: 8099153

Claim:
A method for locating a three-dimensional position of an instrument for an intervention, comprising: creating a three-dimensional image recording with a volume covering a region of the intervention and surroundings; determining local attenuation values of the three-dimensional image recording by x-ray absorption characteristics; recording a two-dimensional image recording showing the instrument during the intervention by an x-ray image recording device comprising an x-ray source and an x-ray detector; determining an x-ray intensity at an x-ray sensor arranged on the instrument; localizing the x-ray sensor in the two-dimensional image recording based on the x-ray intensity; summing the local attenuation values along a virtual x-ray path passing through the x-ray sensor from the x-ray source to the x-ray detector in the volume of the three-dimensional image recording; identifying a point on the virtual x-ray path where the attenuation sum corresponds to the x-ray intensity at the x-ray sensor; and determining a three-dimensional position of the point corresponding to the three-dimensional position of the x-ray sensor on the instrument.