Registration in interventional procedures with optical navigator

Performing Interventional procedures in the close proximity to an MR scanne r widens the range of operations available for an optical tracking system. In order to gain the full benefits from both unrestricted use of surgical i nstruments outside the magnet and intraoperative imaging, a method for tran sferring the registration data of the optical navigator between two locatio ns Is required. An optical tracking system, which provides such a transfer method and tracks patient position during a surgical procedure, has been de veloped, tested, and demonstrated with two patient cases. (C) 2001 Wiley-Li ss, Inc.