System and method for determining the position and orientation of a tool tip relative to eye tissue of interest

A system for determining a position of at least one tool point of interest of a tool, relative to an eye tissue of interest, the system comprising:

• an imager configured to acquire at least one image of at least one tissue reference marker, said at least one tissue reference marker being different from said eye tissue of interest;
• a tool tracker configured to determine information relating to the position and orientation of said tool in a reference coordinate system, said imager and said tool tracker being in registration with said reference coordinate system;
• and
• a processor coupled with said imager and with said tool tracker, said processor configured to determine at least one of a position and a position and orientation of said at least one tissue reference marker in said reference coordinate system, according to the acquired at least one image of said at least one tissue reference marker,
• said processor configured to determine the position and orientation of said eye tissue of interest in said reference coordinate system according to said at least one of position and position and orientation of said at least one tissue reference marker and a relative position between said at least one tissue reference marker and said eye tissue of interest, said relative position being pre-determined at least from a stored 3D model,
• said processor configured to determine the position of said at least one tool point of interest in said reference coordinate system from said information relating to said position and orientation of said tool in said reference coordinate system, said processor further configured to determine a relative position between said at least one tool point of interest and said eye tissue of interest.