Abstract: A sensor means is employed to sense a distance to the surface of a subject to be examined, so that a range image may be acquired. Intensity information may be acquired alongside the distance information. The distance information and intensity information may be evaluated to track the pose of the sensor means relative to the surface of the subject to be examined, so that anatomical data related to said subject may be displayed as seen from the position and/or orientation of the sensor means or display means. By moving the sensor means or display means along the surface of the subject to be examined, such as a patient in a hospital environment, the user hence gets the impression of being able to look directly into the human body.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for navigation during medical interventions on tubular organ structures, characterized in that, before the intervention, static image data of the tubular organ structures are recorded and stored, the tubular organ structures are extracted from the image data and their course is converted into a geometric description used during the medical intervention for instrument/organ recording, and the instrument that is spatially localized by a tracking system is successively corrected in relation to the static data, by a transformation that is preferably defined by an optimization method, taking into account the geometric description and information on the previous distance covered by the instrument, or, conversely, the static data are successively corrected in relation to the instrument position, and thus the position of the instrument is associated with the anatomical structures in the static image data.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method of computer assisted surgery in soft tissue. The system comprises a navigated instrument (14) suitable to be inserted into a living object's soft tissue body part, wherein said navigated instrument (14) when inserted into the body part is suitable to define at least a portion of a section plane with respect to said soft tissue body part. The system further comprises a computer assisted guiding means to assist or enable guiding the instrument (14) upon insertion into the body part such that the section plane defined by said inserted instrument (14) coincides with a planned section plane.

Abstract: The invention relates to one or several navigation aids whose position can be used to maintain the recorded state of at least one partial structure of a non-bone structure. The navigation aid(s) is/are inserted into the non-bone structure.

Abstract: A method of removing undesirable objects such as bones from a digital medical image is disclosed.

Abstract: An embodiment is directed to a method and a system for assisting the targeting of a target with an elongate instrument, wherein the instrument is to be inserted into a living object's body part along a predetermined trajectory extending between an entry point of said instrument into said body part and a target point associated with said target. The method comprises an instrument directing assisting step for generating and displaying an image allowing a user to assess to which extend the longitudinal axis of the instrument is aligned with the vector connecting the target point and the tip portion of said instrument. Also, the method comprises an instrument guiding assisting step of generating and displaying an image allowing a user to assess to which extent the instrument motion during insertion thereof coincides with the predetermined trajectory.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for navigation during medical interventions on tubular organ structures, characterized in that, before the intervention, static image data of the tubular organ structures are recorded and stored, the tubular organ structures are extracted from the image data and their course is converted into a geometric description used during the medical intervention for instrument/organ recording, and the instrument that is spatially localized by a tracking system is successively corrected in relation to the static data, by a transformation that is preferably defined by an optimization method, taking into account the geometric description and information on the previous distance covered by the instrument, or, conversely, the static data are successively corrected in relation to the instrument position, and thus the position of the instrument is associated with the anatomical structures in the static image data.

Abstract: The invention relates to one or several navigation aids whose position can be used to maintain the recorded state of at least one partial structure of a non-bone structure. The navigation aid(s) is/are inserted into the non-bone structure.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method or system for reproducing a 3D object, in particular for modeling a pathologic preparation, with the following steps: providing picture data of the 3D object, such as of a pathological preparation, smoothing and/or equalizing the picture data so as to obtain modified picture data from the object with a minimum of deviations from the 3D object and transferring the resulting picture data to corresponding grid system data.