Imaging system and method for use in surgical and interventional medical procedures

A system for generating a display of an image of a patient's internal anatomy, the image being at least one of an X-ray scan and computer tomography (CT) scan, in a surgical field during a medical procedure, the system comprising:

• a memory configured to store a first image of the surgical field;
• a display;
• and
• a processor, in electronic communication with the memory and display, configured to:
• produce an image set that includes permutations of a first image, the first image being based on a three-dimensional representation of the surgical field including the patient's internal anatomy and being with respect to a baseline orientation,
• acquire a new image of the surgical field,
• select a representative image from the image set based on a correlation between the representative image and the new image,
• merge the selected representative image with the new image, and
• display the merged image on the display,
• wherein the new image includes at least one region where the internal anatomy is blocked or obscured by one or more tools, instruments, implants or other objects used during the medical procedure,
• wherein the processor is further configured to determine the correlation based on comparing the representative image and the new image,
• wherein the comparing the representative image and the new image includes only comparing portions of the images outside the at least one region, and
• wherein the processor is further configured to:
• determine the at least one region based on identifying pixels having a value outside a pre-determined threshold.