Ultrasound imaging instrument visualization

1. A method, comprising:

operating, via a micro-processor, an ultrasound imaging system in a first mode, including:

receiving a first signal from a tracking device disposed on an instrument having an elongate needle that is outside of a subject at an outer surface of a sub-region of skin of a subject;

determining a current location and a current orientation of the elongate needle of the instrument at the outer surface;

determining a predicted path for the elongate needle to a pre-determined object in the subject from the outer surface;

displaying an ultrasound image of an interior of the subject below the sub-region of the skin of the subject that includes the object with the predicted path superimposed over the ultrasound image;

adjusting the current location and the current orientation of the elongate needle based on the predicted path; and

detecting the elongate needle has penetrated the skin of the subject along the predicted path;

transitioning, via the micro-processor and in response to detecting the elongate needle penetrated the skin, the ultrasound imaging system from the first mode to a second different mode; and

operating, via the micro-processor, the ultrasound imaging system in the second different mode, including:

automatically determining a non-zero beam steering angle with respect to an axis perpendicular to a transducer array based on the current location and the current orientation of the elongate needle;

acquiring a first ultrasound image with the determined non-zero beam steering angle;

creating a first segmented ultrasound image of the elongated needle by segmenting the elongate needle from the first ultrasound image;

acquiring a second ultrasound image with a second beam steering angle determined based on the axis perpendicular to the transducer array;

creating a first combined ultrasound image by combining the segmented ultrasound image with the second ultrasound image; and

displaying the first combined ultrasound image.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the automatically determined non-zero beam steering angle is perpendicular to the elongate needle.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second beam steering angle is zero with respect to the axis perpendicular to the transducer array.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second beam steering angle is non-zero with respect to the axis perpendicular to the transducer array.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

guiding the elongate needle to the object based on the first combined ultrasound image.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

continuing to operate the ultrasound imaging system in the second mode, including:

acquiring a third ultrasound image with the determined non-zero beam steering angle;

creating a second segmented ultrasound image of the elongated needle by segmenting the elongate needle from the third ultrasound image;

acquiring a fourth ultrasound image with the beam steering angle of zero with respect to the axis perpendicular to the transducer array;

creating a second combined ultrasound image by combining the second segmented ultrasound image with the fourth ultrasound image; and

displaying the second combined ultrasound image.

7. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

guiding the elongate needle to the object based on the first combined ultrasound image.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predicted path is represented as a dashed line.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predicted path is represented through color indicia.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting the elongate needle has penetrated the outer surface of the sub-region of the skin of the subject by evaluating a relative spatial position of the instrument in conjunction with pre-calibrated data based on the elongated needle and a relative spatial position of the transducer array to determine a penetration of the surface.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first mode is an emitter mode that tracks the elongate needle using the signal from the tracking device.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second mode is a beam steering mode that tracks the elongate needle using the ultrasound image.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tracking device includes one or more of an emitter, a transmitter, or a passive sensor.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

concurrently with the transitioning, visually fading away the ultrasound image of the interior of the subject below the sub-region of the skin of the subject that includes the object with the predicted path superimposed over the ultrasound image and visually presenting the first ultrasound image determined with the non-zero beam steering angle.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

fading away the ultrasound image of the interior of the subject below the sub-region of the skin of the subject that includes the object with the predicted path superimposed over the ultrasound image.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

fading away the ultrasound image of the interior of the subject below the sub-region of the skin of the subject that includes the object with the predicted path superimposed over the ultrasound image based on a depth of the elongate needle in the subject.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

maintaining the ultrasound image of the interior of the subject below the sub-region of the skin of the subject that includes the object with the predicted path superimposed over the ultrasound image.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

displaying only first ultrasound image determined with the non-zero beam steering angle.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

displaying the first ultrasound image determined with the non-zero beam steering angle with a previous acquired B-mode image acquired with a different beam steering angle.

20. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

displaying the first ultrasound image determined with the non-zero beam steering angle with a previous acquired B-mode image acquired with a different beam steering angle.