Systems and methods of registration for image guided surgery

1. A method performed by a computing system comprising:

receiving, from a medical instrument configured to be moved in a surgical environment by a manipulator, a collected set of spatial information for a distal portion of the medical instrument, the collected set of spatial information collected at a plurality of locations within a set of anatomic passageways, wherein the collected set of spatial information is measured relative to a movable reference portion of the medical instrument while the reference portion moves along a known path defined by an insertion stage upon which the manipulator is mounted;

receiving, from a position measuring device, a set of position information for the reference portion of the medical instrument when the distal portion of the medical instrument is at each of the plurality of locations, wherein the set of position information is in an environment coordinate space;

determining a reference set of spatial information for the distal portion of the medical instrument relative to the environment coordinate space by combining the collected set of spatial information measured relative to the reference portion and the set of position information for the reference portion of the medical instrument; and

registering the reference set of spatial information with a set of anatomical model information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the collected set of spatial information is received from a fiber optic shape sensor extending between the distal portion of the medical instrument and the reference portion of the medical instrument.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving commands from a control device to move the medical instrument through the plurality of locations within the set of anatomic passageways.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the set of position information further includes receiving encoder information from a drive system coupled to the reference portion of the medical instrument and determining the set of position information based upon the encoder information and calibration information for a fixed insertion path traversed by the reference portion of the medical instrument.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the calibration information includes calibrated position information for the reference portion of the medical instrument corresponding to the encoder information.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the reference set of spatial information is in a surgical coordinate space.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving commands to manipulate the manipulator to move the distal portion of the instrument through the set of anatomic passageways while a proximal portion of the instrument moves along the insertion stage.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the insertion stage is approximately straight and the position measuring device is an encoder measuring the medical instrument insertion along the insertion stage.

9. A system comprising:

a manipulator configured to move a medical instrument in a surgical environment; and

an insertion stage upon which the manipulator is mounted;

a processing unit operatively coupled to the manipulator,

wherein the processing unit is configured to:

receive, from the medical instrument, a collected set of spatial information for a distal portion of the medical instrument, the collected set of spatial information collected at a plurality of locations within a set of anatomic passageways, wherein the collected set of spatial information is measured relative to a movable reference portion of the medical instrument while the reference portion moves along a known path defined by the insertion stage;

receive, from a position measuring device, a set of position information for the reference portion of the medical instrument when the distal portion of the medical instrument is at each of the plurality of locations, wherein the set of position information is in an environment coordinate space;

determine a reference set of spatial information for the distal portion of the medical instrument relative to the environment coordinate space by combining the collected set of spatial information measured relative to the reference portion and the set of position information for the reference portion of the medical instrument; and

register the reference set of spatial information with a set of anatomical model information.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the collected set of spatial information is received from a fiber optic shape sensor extending between the distal portion of the medical instrument and the reference portion of the medical instrument.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the fiber optic shape sensor is fixed at the reference portion of the medical instrument.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the processing unit is further configured to receive commands from a control device to move the medical instrument through the plurality of locations within the set of anatomic passageways.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the processing unit is further configured to receive encoder information from a drive system coupled to the reference portion of the medical instrument and determine the set of position information based upon the encoder information and calibration information for a fixed insertion path traversed by the reference portion of the medical instrument, wherein the calibration information includes calibrated position information for the reference portion of the medical instrument corresponding to the encoder information.

14. The system of claim 13 where the calibration information includes the direction of an insertion axis.

15. The system of claim 14 where the direction of the insertion axis is obtained from a measurement of a difference in position between two points along a section of the medical instrument that is aligned with the insertion stage.

16. The system of claim 9 wherein the set of anatomical model information is from a set of pre-operative anatomic images.

17. The system of claim 9 wherein registering the reference set of spatial information with the set of anatomical model information includes matching reference datapoints from the reference set of spatial information with anatomical points from the set of anatomical model information.

18. The system of claim 9 wherein registering the reference set of spatial information with the set of anatomical model information includes determining a change motion and transforming reference datapoints from the reference set of spatial information.