Patent ID: 8175675

Claim:
A deformable medical marker device adaptable to a body part so as to surround the body part, comprising: a plurality of medical marker elements; a connecting device that connects at least a first subset of medical marker elements within the plurality of medical marker elements to each other, a second subset of medical marker elements within the plurality of medical marker elements to each other, and a third subset of medical marker elements within the plurality of medical marker elements to each other, the first, second and third subsets each comprising a plurality of markers, each of the plurality of markers belonging to only one of the first, second or third subsets, wherein the connecting device enables at least some medical marker elements of the first subset to be moved relative to each other, at least some medical marker elements of the second subset to be moved relative to each other, and at least some medical marker elements of the third subset to be moved relative to each other, said relative movement performed without detaching the marker elements from the connecting device so as to adapt a shape of the marker device to a contour of a curved surface of the body part and to surround the body part while remaining connected to each other by the connecting device, and wherein each of the first, second and third subsets comprise a predetermined arrangement, and wherein the plurality of marker elements are arranged such that when an imaging device obtains a medical image of the deformable marker device surrounding the body part, it can be determined from the medical image whether a marker element of the plurality of marker elements is in front of the body part or behind the body part relative to the imaging device; and a rigid connecting device configured to maintain a fixed distance between at least one marker element of the first subset and at least one marker element of the third subset of the plurality of marker elements as the deformable marker device is deformed at a point directly adjacent to the rigid connecting device.