METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR LOCALIZING A MEDICAL IMAGING PROBE AND FOR SPATIAL REGISTRATION AND MAPPING OF A BIOPSY NEEDLE DURING A TISSUE BIOPSY

摘要

A method for determining the location of a biopsy needle within a target volume, said target volume being defined to be a space inside a patient, the method comprising: (1) generating a plurality of images of the target volume; (2) spatially registering the images; (3) generating a three-dimensional representation of the target volume from the spatially registered images; (4) determining the location of the biopsy needle in the three-dimensional target volume representation; and (5) correlating the determined biopsy needle location with the spatially registered images. Preferably, the present invention includes graphically displaying the target volume representation, the target volume representation including a graphical depiction of the determined biopsy needle location. Also disclosed herein is an inventive localization technique wherein a camera for tracking a reference target is attached to an ultrasound probe, thereby enabling precise localization of the probe in a coordinate system.