Patent ID: 8494612

Claim:
A method for navigation during medical interventions on tubular organ structures with curves or ramifications, comprising: (a) recording and storing static image data of the tubular organ structures before the intervention, (b) extracting the tubular organ structures from the static image data, (c) converting a course of the tubular organ structures into a geometric description which is then used during the medical intervention for instrument/organ recording, wherein the geometric description represents at least one of the group consisting of central lines, ramifications, and surfaces of the tubular organ structures, and (d) spatially localizing the instrument position by a tracking system and successively correcting the instrument position in relation to the static image data, by a transformation that is defined by an optimization method which comprises: taking into account the geometric description, movement of the tubular organ structures, and information on previous distance covered by the instrument, wherein the movement of the tubular organ structures is calculated from a changing position of the instrument and thus, the position of the instrument is associated with the tubular organ structures in the static image data, wherein the information on the distance covered represents the continuous recording of a spatial position of the instrument and contains further features which represent ramifications of the tubular organ structures, and wherein the transformation is successively learned along the distance covered.