DETERMINING A CONSENSUS PLANE FOR IMAGING A MEDICAL DEVICE

Disclosed is a computer-implemented method of determining a consensus plane for imaging an elongate medical device such as an electrode or a catheter. The consensus plane is an imaging plane having an optimal orientation relative to a characteristic geometric quantity of the elongate medical device such as the orientation of its longitudinal axis. When positioning an analytical device such as a medical imaging device (e.g. a tomographic scanner or a C-arm x-ray machine) such that its imaging plane is parallel to or coincides with the consensus plane, an optimal image of the elongate medical device can be generated. The consensus plane is determined by analysing patient image data used for planning an imaging procedure, planned trajectory data defining a planned position of the elongate medical device relative to the position of an anatomical body part, imaging device constraint data describing machine constraints governing operation of the medical imaging device, avoidance region position data defining the position of anatomical regions of the patient's body which comprise for example an organ-at-risk or an imaging artefact-generating structure such as an implant and shall not be influenced by the imaging radiation and for example not be intersected by the consensus plane, and orientation condition data defining a boundary condition for an angle between the orientation of the consensus plane and the orientation of the characteristic geometric quantity (e.g. the longitudinal axis) of the elongate medical device.