SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDENTIFYING AN IMAGED NEEDLE IN AN ULTRASOUND IMAGE

The present embodiments relate generally to ultrasound imaging methods, systems, and apparatus that identify an imaged needle in an ultrasound image. The embodiments involve performing edge detection on the ultrasound image to generate an edge-detected data set corresponding to the ultrasound image; performing a straight line detection operation on the edge-detected data set to detect one or more straight lines; based on the one or more straight lines detected in the edge-detected data set, identifying a region of interest (ROI) on the ultrasound image; transforming the ROI of the ultrasound image from a spatial domain to an analysis domain, to generate a transformed ROI; analyzing the transformed ROI to determine whether the transformed ROI, in the analysis domain, corresponds to a needle signature; and if the transformed ROI corresponds to the needle signature, identifying the detected one or more straight lines as the imaged needle.