Surgical navigation systems including reference and localization frames

A system for use during a medical or surgical procedure on a body, said system generating a display representing the position of plural body elements during the procedure based on scans taken of the body by a scanner prior to the procedure, the scan having reference points for each of the body elements, the reference points of a particular body element having a known spatial relation to the particular body element, said system comprising:

• means for identifying, during the procedure, the position of the reference points for each of the body elements to be displayed, the identifying means comprising a reference array having a location outside the body for providing a reference and means for determining the position of the reference points for the body elements to be displayed relative to the reference array;
• a processor modifying the image data set according to the identified position of the reference points during the procedure, as identified by the identifying means, said processor generating a displaced image data set representing the position and geometry of the body elements during the procedure;
• a display utilizing the displaced image data set generated by the processor, illustrating the position and geometry of the body elements during the procedure;
• and
• a reference frame having a position in known relation to one of the body elements, said reference frame in communication with the reference array, and further comprising means for determining the position of the reference frame relative to the reference array, the body being movable during the procedure while the body elements remain in fixed relation to each other and in known relation to the reference frame so that the system can determine the position of each of the body elements after movement without again identifying the relative position of each of the reference points for each of the body elements,
• wherein the reference array includes sensors and wherein the reference frame is attached to one of the body elements and includes emitters communicating with the sensors of the reference array to indicate the position of the reference frame relative to the reference array.

A system for use during a medical or surgical procedure on a body, said system generating a display representing the position of body elements during the procedure based on scans taken of the body by a scanner prior to the procedure, the scan having reference points for each of the body elements, the reference points of a particular body element having a known spatial relation to the particular body element, said system comprising:

• means for identifying, during the procedure, the position of the reference points for each of the body elements to be displayed, the identifying means comprising a reference array having a location outside the body for providing a reference and means for determining the position of the reference points for the body elements to be displayed relative to the reference array;
• a processor modifying the image data set according to the identified position of the reference points during the procedure, as identified by the identifying means, said processor generating a displaced image data set representing the position and geometry of the body elements during the procedure;
• a display utilizing the displaced image data set generated by the processor, illustrating the position and geometry of the body elements during the procedure;
• and
• a reference frame having a position in known relation to one of the body elements, said reference frame in communication with the reference array, and further comprising means for determining the position of the reference frame relative to the reference array, the body being movable during the procedure while the body elements remain in fixed relation to each other and in known relation to the reference frame so that the system can determine the position of each of the body elements after movement without again identifying the relative position of each of the reference points for each of the body elements,
• wherein the reference frame includes sensors and wherein the reference array is attached to one of the body elements and includes emitters communicating with the sensors of the reference frame to indicate the position of the reference frame relative to the reference array.

A method for use during a procedure, said method generating a display representing the position of body elements during the procedure based on an image data set generated prior to the procedure, which image data set has reference points for each of the body elements, said method comprising the steps of:

• identifying, during the procedure, the relative position of each of the reference points for each of the body elements to be displayed;
• modifying the image data set according to the identified relative position of each of the reference points during the procedure in order to generate a displaced image data set representing the position of the body elements during the procedure;
• generating a display based on the displaced image data set illustrating the relative position of the body elements during the procedure;
• providing a reference frame having a position in fixed relation to one of the body elements, said reference frame in communication with the reference array;
• and
• determining the position of the reference frame relative to the reference array, the body being movable during the procedure while the body elements remain in fixed relation to each other and the reference frame so that the method can determine the position of each of the body elements after movement without again identifying the relative position of each of the reference points for each of the body elements.

A system for use during a medical or surgical procedure on a body, the system generating a display from an image data set representing the position of at least one body element during the procedure based on scans taken of the body by a scanner prior to the procedure, the scan having reference points for the at least one body element, the reference points of a particular body element having a known spatial relation to the particular body element, the system comprising:

• an identifying system configured to identify, during the procedure, the position of the reference points for the at least one body element to be displayed;
• a processor configured to substantially discriminate the at least one body element of the image data set by creating an image data subset defining the at least one body element;
• a processor programmed to modify the image data subset according to the identified position of the reference points during the procedure, as identified by the identifying system, the processor generating a displaced image data set representing the position and geometry of the at least one body element during the procedure;
• and
• a display utilizing the displaced image data set generated by the processor to illustrate the position and geometry of the at least one body element during the procedure.