A method for automatically initializing pose for registration of 2D fluoroscopic abdominal aortic images with a 3D model of an abdominal aorta includes detecting a 2D iliac bifurcation and a 2D renal artery bifurcation from a sequence of 2D fluoroscopic abdominal aortic images, detecting a spinal centerline in a 2D fluoroscopic spine image, providing a 3D iliac bifurcation and a 3D renal artery bifurcation from a 3D image volume of the patient's abdomen, and a 3D spinal centerline from the 3D image volume of the patient's abdomen, and determining pose parameters {x, y, z, θ}, where (x, y) denotes the translation on a table plane, z denotes a depth of the table, and θ is a rotation about the z axis, by minimizing a cost function of the 2D and 3D iliac bifurcations, the 2D and 3D renal artery bifurcation, and the 2D and 3D spinal centerlines.