Systems and methods of registration compensation in image guided surgery

A method performed by a computing system comprising:

• receiving shape information for an elongate flexible portion of a medical instrument, the medical instrument including a reference portion movably coupled to a fixture having a known pose in a surgical reference frame of a surgical environment in which a patient and the fixture are disposed, wherein the known pose of the fixture is a predetermined fixed pose within the surgical environment or is determined using one or more sensors within the surgical environment,
• wherein the elongate flexible portion is coupled to the reference portion and is sized to movably pass through a constraint structure as the reference portion is moved along the fixture, the constraint structure being fixed in a known constraint structure location in the surgical reference frame prior to insertion of the elongate flexible portion into a patient;
• receiving reference portion position information in the surgical reference frame;
• receiving anatomical model information;
• registering the shape information to the anatomical model information;
• determining, after registering the shape information to the anatomical model information, an estimated constraint structure location in the surgical reference frame from the received reference portion position information and the received shape information;
• determining a correction factor by comparing the estimated constraint structure location to the known constraint structure location;
• and
• after determining the correction factor, modifying the received shape information by applying the correction factor to the received shape information while the constraint structure is fixed in the known constraint structure location.