Patent ID: 8290570

Claim:
A system for determining a position of an anatomical structure, comprising: a surgical navigation system having a display; two tracking devices wherein each tracking device comprises: a rigid section configured for insertion into a skeletal structure of a subject, the section including a first end and a second end, the section further having a small cross section relative to a length of the section, a joint having first and second degrees of freedom connected to the first end of the section, a tip attached to the joint, wherein the tip includes means for being removably attached to the skeletal structure, and two position-indicating sensors on the second end of the section in a fixed relation to each other, wherein the position-indicating sensors can be tracked by the surgical navigation system; wherein the surgical navigation system further comprises a first circuit configured for calculating a global position of the skeletal structure by correlating positional information from the tracking devices, and a second circuit configured for displaying the global position of the skeletal structure on the display.