Abstract: The invention relates to a system for planning introduction of a needle in a patient's body, comprising: a needle guide configured to be coupled to a needle; a localization system configured for tracking the needle guide with respect to the patient's body, the localization system being coupled to a needle tracker attached to the needle guide and a reference marker adapted to be attached to the patient's body to determine a spatial position and orientation of the needle tracker relative to the reference marker; a processor configured for determining a virtual position and orientation of the needle with respect to the 3D image using localization data of the needle guide, thereby defining a virtual needle having said virtual position and orientation, detecting a part of the needle that has already been inserted into the patient's body as a trace in the 3D medical image, computing a distance between the virtual needle and the detected needle, and determining a representation of the computed distance; a disp

Abstract: The invention relates to a system for planning the introduction of a needle in a patient's body, comprising: a needle guide (3) intended to be coupled to a needle (2); a navigation system configured for tracking the needle guide (3) with respect to a 3D medical image of the patient; a processor configured for determining a virtual position and orientation of the needle (2) with respect to the 3D image (1) using navigation data of the needle guide (3), for detecting at least one inserted needle (2?; 2a?, 2b?, 2c?) as a trace in the 3D medical image (1) and for computing a distance between the virtual needle (2) and the detected needle (2?; 2a?, 2b?, 2c?); a display coupled to the processor for displaying a representation of the virtual needle (2) and a representation of the computed distance between the virtual needle and the at least one detected needle (2?; 2a?, 2b?, 2c?).