System for indicating the position of a surgical probe within a head on an image of the head

A method for indicating a position of a tip of a surgical probe which is positioned within a body of a patient on images of the body wherein the body and the images of the body include reference images corresponding to reference points in a position on the body, said method comprising the steps of:

• determining the position of the tip of the surgical probe relative to a reference means having a location outside the body;
• determining the position of the reference points of the body relative to the reference means so that the position of the tip relative to the reference points of the body is a known position;
• translating the known position of the tip of the surgical probe to provide a translated position within a coordinate system corresponding to the images of the body;
• and
• displaying an image of the body which corresponds to the translated position of the tip of the surgical probe.

A system for indicating a position within an object, said system comprising:

• reference points means having a position in fixed relation to the object for providing reference points;
• means for generating images of the object, said images including reference images corresponding to the reference points means;
• reference means having a location outside the object for providing a reference;
• a probe including a tip having a position;
• first means for determining the position of the tip of the probe relative to the reference means;
• second means for measuring the position of the reference points means of the object relative to the reference means so that the position of the tip relative reference points means of the object is a known position;
• means for translating the known position of the tip of the probe to provide a translated position within a coordinate system corresponding to the images of the object;
• and
• means for displaying an image of the object which corresponds to the translated position of the tip of the probe.