Method and system for determining movement of an organ or therapy region of a patient

A method for determining movement of a site in a patient, comprising the steps of:

• disposing a plurality of sensors respectively at location-invariant body parts of a patient;
• obtaining respective signals from said sensors and from said signals defining a patient-specific coordinate system and displaying said patient-specific coordinate system;
• placing at least one further sensor at a moving site in said patient, said further sensor placed at said moving site producing a sensor signal dependent on movement of said moving site;
• and
• from said signal from said further sensor placed at said moving site, displaying at least one point in said display of said patient-specific coordinate system which is characteristic of a motion path of said moving site.

An apparatus method for determining movement of a site in a patient, comprising:

• one or more sensors adapted for placement respectively at location-invariant body parts of a patient;
• means for obtaining respective signals from said sensors and from said signals defining a patient-specific coordinate system;
• a display monitor system for displaying said patient-specific coordinate system in a first display presentation;
• an image registration system for obtaining a substantially real-time image, in an image plane, of a region of said patient containing a moving site and connected to said display monitor system for displaying said image in a second display presentation of said display monitor system;
• means for identifying an orientation of said image plane in said patient-specific coordinate system and for causing display of a representation of said image plane with said orientation in said patient-specific coordinate system in said first display presentation;
• and
• means for defining at least a point in said second display presentation which exhibits a motion path dependent on movement of said movement site, and for causing display of at least one characteristic point of said motion path in said image plane in said first display presentation.

An apparatus for determining movement of a site in a patient, comprising the steps of:

• one or more sensors adapted for placement respectively at location-invariant body parts of a patient;
• means for obtaining respective signals from said sensors and from said signals defining a patient-specific coordinate system;
• a monitor for displaying said patient-specific coordinate system;
• at least one further sensor at a moving site in said patient, said sensor placed at said moving site producing a sensor signal dependent on movement of said site;
• and
• means for receiving said signal from said further sensor placed at said moving site, and for causing display of at least one point in said display of said patient-specific coordinate system at said monitor which is characteristic of a motion path of said moving site.