Technique For Guiding Acquisition of One More Registration Points On A Patient's Body

A data processing apparatus for guiding a surgeon to acquire one or more registration points on a body of a patient, the apparatus comprising a processor configured to:

• obtain geometrical information defining relative positions between a non-patient-specific virtual mask and a plurality of anchor points, each of the anchor points being associated with a non-patient-specific anatomical landmark;
• obtain, for each of the anchor points, a position of the associated anatomical landmark in image data of the patient;
• match the virtual mask to the image data;
• obtain a plurality of image surface points defining a skin surface in the image data;
• determine, based on the matched virtual mask, for at least one of the plurality of image surface points, a priority value indicative of a priority for acquiring a registration point at a position, relative to the body, that corresponds to a position of the at least one image surface point relative to the skin surface defined in the image data;
• and
• trigger display of a visualization of the priority value of the at least one surface point, or of a visualization of information derived from the priority value.

A computer program product comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

• obtain geometrical information defining relative positions between a non-patient-specific virtual mask and a plurality of anchor points, each of the anchor points being associated with a non-patient-specific anatomical landmark;
• obtain, for each of the anchor points, a position of the associated anatomical landmark in image data of the patient;
• match the virtual mask to the image data;
• obtain a plurality of image surface points defining a skin surface in the image data;
• determine, based on the matched virtual mask, for at least one of the plurality of image surface points, a priority value indicative of a priority for acquiring a registration point at a position, relative to the body, that corresponds to a position of the at least one image surface point relative to the skin surface defined in the image data;
• and
• trigger display of a visualization of the priority value of the at least one surface point, or of a visualization of information derived from the priority value.