System, method and devices for navigated flexible endoscopy

A method utilizing a computing device in an image-guided medical procedure for indicating on a display controlled by the computing device relative locations of a medical instrument and a plurality of items of interest within an anatomy of a patient, the method comprising acts of:

• on the computing device:
• receiving one or more preoperative images of the anatomy of the patient that are preoperative to insertion of the medical instrument including the plurality of items of interest;
• determining coordinates of the plurality of items of interest in a first preoperative frame of reference corresponding to the one or more preoperative images;
• obtaining coordinates of an actual path of the medical instrument within the anatomy of the patient in a second intra-operative frame of reference corresponding to a position sensing system;
• creating a display indicating relative locations of the medical instrument and the plurality of items of interest;
• measuring, in the second intra-operative frame of reference, a sensor distance traversed by the medical instrument from a first to a second item of the plurality of items of interest within the anatomy of the patient;
• measuring, in the first preoperative frame of reference, an image distance between the first item and the second item based on predicted collisions with interior walls of a conduit between the first item and the second item in the first preoperative frame of reference;
• and
• providing an indication when the sensor distance and the image distance differ by less than a predetermined amount.

A system for assisting an image-guided medical procedure relating one or more points of interest within an anatomy of a patient, the system comprising:

• a memory device that receives one or more preoperative images of the anatomy of the patient that are preoperative to insertion of a tracked instrument;
• the tracked instrument includes one or more sensor elements associated with a position sensing system, wherein the tracked instrument provides coordinates of an actual path of the tracked instrument during the insertion of the tracked instrument within the anatomy of the patient in a second intra-operative frame of reference corresponding to the position sensing system;
• a control application configured to
• calculate coordinates of a predicted path in a first preoperative frame of reference corresponding to the one or more preoperative images based on predicted collisions with interior walls of a conduit within the anatomy of the patient in the first preoperative frame of reference, and
• determine coordinates of the one or more items of interest within the anatomy of the patient in the first preoperative frame of reference corresponding to the one or more preoperative images;
• wherein the control application registers the coordinates of the predicted path of the tracked instrument with the coordinates of the actual path of the tracked instrument based on the predicted collisions with the interior walls of the conduit to produce at least one transformation matrix relating the first preoperative frame of reference to the second intra-operative frame of reference;
• and
• a display module that creates a display indicating the relative locations of the instrument and the one or more points of interest using the at least one transformation matrix.