Patent ID: 6850794

Claim:
A system for enhancing the ability of a surgeon to access a target site within a patient, comprising a data file containing volumetric scan data of a region of the patient that includes the target site, a display device, a movable imagining tool for producing on the display device, an image of visible structure seen by the tool, where the position and/or orientation of the tool is tracked with respect to the patient coordinate system, and a computer operatively connected to data file and display screen for (i) determining the position and/or orientation of the tool in a patient coordinate system, (ii) identifying the scan-data coordinates of the target site in the patient coordinate system, and (iii) projecting on the video image on the display device, indicia that indicate (a) the direction of the target site, if the target site is outside the patient structure imaged on the display device, and (b) the lateral position of the target site with respect to the patient structure imaged on the display device and the distance between the tool and the target site, if the target site is within the patient structure imaged on the display device.