Interactive image-guided surgical system for displaying images corresponding to the placement of a surgical tool or the like

An interactive system guiding the use of a surgical tool using an imaging technique, comprising:

• an imaging device generating image data of a patient's anatomy, said image data being defined with respect to an image coordinate system;
• a surgical tool;
• a mechanical arm having a fixed base at a first end and a tool holder that holds the surgical tool at a second end;
• means for displaying at least one graphical representation of image data of and patient's anatomy, said means including a display screen;
• a computer means coupled to the means for displaying and to the mechanical arm for tracking the location of the surgical tool through a physical coordinate system, for relating said physical coordinate system to the image coordinate system, and for causing said display means to display graphical representations of image data corresponding to the location of the surgical tool within the image coordinate system;
• said computer means having a local data base storing patient identification information and corresponding image data and image coordinate system;
• means for determining whether particular patient identification information is in the local data base;
• said display means displaying patient identification information on said display screen;
• means for defining a desired orientation for said image data and image coordinate system in said local data base corresponding to said patient identification information;
• means for reformatting said image data to said desired orientation and
• means for generating a graphic representation of the reformatted image data of a surgical volume of interest, said graphic representation capable of being displayed on said display screen.