Patent ID: 8267853

Claim:
A system comprising: a laparoscope configured to capture a laparoscopic image of a surgical field including texture elements C l ; a laparoscopic ultrasound probe configured to capture an ultrasonic image of a structure in the surgical field including texture elements C s ; a tracking system configured to detect a position and orientation of said laparoscope and a position and orientation of said laparoscopic ultrasound probe; data associated with said laparoscope wherein said data indicates a distortion in said laparoscopic image; and a computer configured to receive said laparoscopic image, said ultrasonic image and said distortion data associated with said laparoscope wherein said computer is configured to: position and orient said ultrasonic image relative to said laparoscopic image, adjust said ultrasonic image based upon said distortion data, combine texture elements of said adjusted ultrasonic image, C s , with texture elements of said laparoscopic image, C l , wherein said combined texture elements, C o are computed according to C o =tC s +(1−t)C l , where t is a user specified translucency factor in the range of 0 to 1, and output said combined images.