Katheterverfolgungssystem

摘要

A catheter tracking system for locating and tracking a catheter head 16 with reference to a part of the human or animal body 1 includes a catheter having a catheter head which is arranged to be conveyed through the human or animal body to a desired location and a plurality of spaced apart transducers at least one of which is disposed on the catheter. At least two further transducers are disposed at predetermined reference positions in and/or around the human or animal body. A signal processing unit operates to energize the plurality of transducers, and in accordance with a time of flight of signals between the reference transducers and the transducer disposed on the catheter, to determine the location of the catheter head with respect to the reference transducers. The energized signals consist of predetermined waveforms which when analyzed by the signal processing unit serve to increase an accuracy with which the catheter head location is determined.