Registration degradation correction for surgical navigation procedures

Abstract

New and innovative systems and methods for registration degradation correction for surgical procedures are disclosed. An example system includes a surgical marking pen including a first trackable target and a registration plate including a second trackable target. The system also includes a navigation camera and a processor configured to perform a pen registration that determines a transformation between a tip of the surgical marking pen and the first trackable target when the tip of the surgical marking pen is placed on the registration plate. The pen registration enables the processor to record virtual marks at locations of the pen tip that correspond to physical marks drawn by the pen. Locations of the virtual marks are later compared to images of the physical marks to correct any registration degradation by moving a surgical camera or robotic arm connected to the surgical camera.