Systems and methods for guiding and locating functional elements on medical devices positioned in a body

A method of locating a probe in a body cavity, comprising:

• positioning a first probe having a first functional element in the body cavity;
• positioning a second probe carrying a second functional element in the body cavity;
• determining an absolute position of the second functional element within a three-dimensional coordinate system;
• and
• determining a proximity of the second functional element to the first functional element.

A method of locating a probe with a body cavity of a patient, comprising:

• positioning a first probe carrying a plurality of functional elements in the body cavity;
• positioning a second probe carrying a functional element in the body cavity;
• determining an absolute position of the functional element within a three-dimensional coordinate system;
• determining a proximity of the functional element to each of the plurality of functional elements;
• and
• determining an absolute position within the coordinate system of each of the plurality of functional elements based on the absolute location of the functional element and the proximity of the functional element to each of the plurality of functional elements.

A method of locating a probe with a body cavity of a patient, comprising:

• positioning a first probe carrying a plurality of functional elements in the body cavity;
• positioning a second probe carrying a functional element in the body cavity;
• determining an absolute position of the functional element within a three-dimensional coordinate system;
• determining a proximity of the functional element to each of the plurality of functional elements;
• and
• determining an absolute position within the coordinate system of each of the plurality of functional elements based on the absolute location of the functional element and the proximity of the functional element to each of the plurality of functional elements;
• storing the absolute position of each of the plurality of functional elements in memory;
• retrieving the stored absolute positions from the memory;
• and
• displaying the retrieved absolute positions.

A method of generating a composite map of tissue within a body region of a patient, comprising:

• positioning a first probe carrying a plurality of mapping elements in a first location adjacent the tissue;
• detecting information local to the first location using the plurality of mapping elements;
• positioning a second probe carrying a functional element;
• determining an absolute position of the functional element within a three-dimensional coordinate system;
• determining a proximity of the functional element to each of the plurality of mapping elements while the first probe is positioned in the first location;
• determining a first absolute position of each of the plurality of mapping elements within the coordinate system based on the absolute location of the functional element and the proximity of the functional element to each of the plurality of mapping elements;
• generating first mapping information by associating the first local information to the first absolute positions of the plurality of mapping elements;
• positioning the first probe in a second location adjacent the tissue;
• detecting information local to the second location using the plurality of mapping elements;
• determining a proximity of the functional element to each of the plurality of mapping elements while the first probe is positioned in the second location;
• determining a second absolute position of each of the plurality of mapping elements within the coordinate system based on the absolute location of the functional element and the proximity of the functional element to each of the plurality of mapping elements;
• generating second mapping information by associating the second local information to the second absolute positions of the plurality of mapping elements;
• and
• combining the first and second mapping information into the composite map.

A method of navigating a probe in a body cavity of a patient, comprising:

• positioning a mapping probe within the body cavity;
• generating a map of the body cavity with the mapping probe;
• registering the map in a three-dimensional coordinate system;
• positioning a roving probe carrying a location element in the body cavity;
• determining an absolute position of the location element within the coordinate system;
• and
• navigating the roving probe within the body cavity by reference to the position of the location element within the coordinate system.