Method and device for percutaneous determination of points associated with the surface of an organ

A percutaneous-point determination device for determining a location of a point associated with a surface of an animal organ, comprising:

• an ultrasound device configured to emit an ultrasound beam along an ultrasound beam axis having a known orientation with respect to the ultrasound device, the ultrasound device configured to output ultrasound data;
• a position measurement device configured to output position data indicative of a location of the ultrasound device;
• and
• a computer configured to cross-correlate the ultrasound data with reference ultrasound data to thereby provide distance data indicative of a distance from the ultrasound device to the point, wherein the computer is further configured to process the distance data and the position data to thereby determine the location of the point.

A percutaneous method for determining a location of a point associated with a surface of an animal organ, comprising:

• providing an ultrasound device emitting a focused ultrasound beam along an ultrasound beam axis having a known orientation;
• obtaining ultrasound data indicative of a distance from the ultrasound device to the point;
• obtaining position data indicative of a location of the ultrasound device;
• and
• processing the ultrasound data and position data to thereby determine a location of the point.