Systems and methods for guiding a medical instrument

A method for guiding a medical instrument within a body of a subject, the method comprising:

• providing at least one magnetic emitter coupled to the medical instrument;
• providing an average anatomical representation of at least a portion of the subject;
• sensing at least one magnetic field emitted by the at least one magnetic emitter with a plurality of magnetic sensors;
• associating a position of each of the plurality of magnetic sensors with the average anatomical representation;
• determining a position of the medical instrument relative to the average anatomical representation and the plurality of magnetic sensors using data from the plurality of magnetic sensors regarding the magnetic field generated by the magnetic emitter;
• displaying the average anatomical representation;
• and
• displaying a representation of the position of the medical instrument relative to the average anatomical representation.

A system for guiding a medical instrument within a body of a subject, the system comprising:

• at least one magnetic emitter coupled to the medical instrument, the at least one magnetic emitter configured to generate at least one magnetic field;
• a plurality of magnetic sensors configured to be placed on the subject, the plurality of magnetic sensors configured to sense the at least one magnetic field generated by the at least one magnetic emitter;
• and
• a processing device communicatively coupled to the plurality of magnetic sensors, the processing device configured to:
• associate a reference plane relative to the plurality of magnetic sensors with a midplane of at least a portion of the subject;
• and
• determine a position and an orientation of the medical instrument relative to the midplane and the plurality of magnetic sensors using data from the plurality of magnetic sensor regarding the at least one magnetic field generated by the at least one magnetic emitter;
• and
• a display device communicatively coupled to the processing device, wherein the processing device is configured to direct the display device to display a representation of the position of the medical instrument relative to the midplane.