Patent ID: 7786990

Claim:
A cursor mode display system indicating an offset distance between a cursor position within a three-dimensional patient coordinate system on a medical patient image and a closest medical patient image slice in a corresponding medical patient image series, said system comprising: a) a memory for storing a threshold value and data associated with the medical patient image, the closest medical patient image slice and the corresponding medical patient image series; b) a processor coupled to the memory, said processor configured for: (i) determining the three-dimensional coordinates associated with the cursor position on the medical patient image by projecting the cursor position onto the three-dimensional patient coordinate system; (ii) determining the closest medical patient image slice from the corresponding medical patient image series by determining which medical patient image slice is closest to the three-dimensional coordinates of the cursor position; (iii) calculating the offset distance between the closest medical patient image slice and the three-dimensional coordinates associated with the cursor position; (iv) determining whether the offset distance exceeds a threshold value; (v) if the offset distance does not exceed the threshold value, displaying the closest medical patient image slice; and (vi) if the offset distance exceeds the threshold value, displaying a modified version of the closest medical patient image slice.