A method of performing a guided interventional medical procedure using a template, the method comprising:
- obtaining at least one medical image of a patient's anatomy;
- identifying a location of at least one target in the at least one medical image, wherein the at least one target is identifiable in the at least one medical image that is involved in the guided interventional medical procedure;
- determining a path of at least one conduit in the patient on the at least one medical image in image space, wherein the path of the at least one conduit in image space is expressed based on a coordinate system of imaged data, wherein the imaged data is obtained from the at least one medical image;
- determining the location and/or orientation of one or more position indicating elements affixed to at least one measuring device relative to the at least one measuring device;
- inserting and fixing the at least one measuring device into the at least one conduit;
- assuming an initial location of the at least one measuring device within the at least one conduit;
- determining the location and/or orientation of the one or more position indicating elements affixed to the at least one measuring device relative to at least one tracking device;
- determining a path of the at least one measuring device in a coordinate system of the at least one tracking device using the determined location and/or orientation of the one or more position indicating elements affixed to the at least one measuring device;
- registering the path of the at least one conduit in image space to patient space by mapping the path of the at least one conduit in image space to the path of the at least one measuring device in patient space;
- modifying the initial assumed location of the at least one measuring device and re-registering the path of the at least one conduit in image space to patient space until one or more criteria are met;
- positioning the template near the organ involved in the guided interventional medical procedure;
- determining a position and orientation of the template in patient space;
- transforming the position and orientation of the template in patient space to a position and orientation of the template in image space based on the registration;
- calculating a transformation that moves one or more pre-procedure images to multiple locations along the path of the at least one conduit;
- improving registration by determining the location of the multiple locations that maximizes overlap of information derived from the one or more pre-procedure images and corresponding information obtained during the procedure;
- adjusting the position and orientation of the template to ensure a path aligned with at least one channel of the template intersects the at least one target;
- and
- placing at least one instrument through the at least one channel in order to provide therapy or receive diagnostic or accuracy information related to the at least one target.