Patent ID: 7996064

Claim:
A system for placing a surgical implant into a patient comprising: a computer processor; an input system to input dimensions of the surgical implant; a tracking sensor for sensing three-dimensional position information of a surgical instrument to which the surgical implant is removably coupled, the tracking sensor transmitting the position information to the computer processor; a display in communication with the computer processor and operable to display an image; a memory in communication with the computer processor, the memory including computer instructions that when executed by the computer processor cause the computer processor to: overlay a graphical representation of the surgical implant on the image prior to moving the surgical implant into the patient to ensure appropriate dimensions of the surgical implant; generate an icon representing the surgical instrument and the mounted surgical implant; and overlay the icon on the image to represent the real-time position of at least one of the surgical instrument or the surgical implant relative to the image and the patient; generate a first and a second two-dimensional digitally reconstructed radiograph (DRR) image from a three-dimensional image of an anatomy of the patient; generate a two-dimensional representation of the appropriate size of the surgical implant for display relative to the first and the second digital reconstructed radiograph image; and wherein the overlay of the icon is used to determine an appropriately sized surgical implant based upon the two-dimensional representation relative to both the first and second digital reconstructed radiograph image.