A surgical instrument navigation system is provided that visually simulates a
virtual
volumetric scene of a body cavity of a patient from a point of view of a surgical
instrument residing in the cavity of the patient. The surgical instrument navigation
system includes: a surgical instrument; an imaging device which is operable to
capture scan data representative of an internal region of interest within a given
patient; a tracking subsystem that employs electro-magnetic sensing to capture
in real-time position data indicative of the position of the surgical instrument;
a data processor which is operable to render a volumetric, perspective image of
the internal region of interest from a point of view of the surgical instrument;
and a display which is operable to display the volumetric perspective image of
the patient.
