Patent ID: 7819810

Claim:
An apparatus for sensing a presence and orientation of one or more vessels within a portion of a patient's body for insertion of a needle into a target vessel, the apparatus comprising: a sensor assembly including: a first linear, ultrasonic transducer array comprising a plurality of elements; a second linear, ultrasonic transducer array comprising a plurality of elements, positioned perpendicular to the first linear, ultrasonic transducer array and oriented in substantially a common plane therewith to form a substantially planar T shape therewith; a cover extending over the first and second linear, ultrasonic transducer arrays and having an exterior surface bearing a grid system cooperatively aligned with respective orientations of the first, linear transducer array and the second, linear transducer array and comprising a set of longitudinal grid markings parallel to a body of the T superimposed over and aligned with the first linear, ultrasonic transducer array and a set of transverse grid markings parallel to a head of the T superimposed over and aligned with the second linear, transducer array, the set of longitudinal grid markings and the set of transverse grid markings each comprising value indicia representative of positions along their respective associated first and second linear, ultrasonic transducer arrays indicative of positions of the plurality of elements of the first and second linear, ultrasonic transducer arrays on a surface of the patient's body with the elements of the first and second linear, ultrasonic transducer arrays aimed into the patient's body; and a needle guide proximate one end of the cover adjacent the head of the T; and a monitoring system, including: a beamformer operably coupled to the first and second linear, ultrasonic transducer arrays; a converter operably coupled to the beamformer for converting signals therefrom to images respectively depicting a transverse sectional view and a longitudinal sectional view of one or more vessels in a portion of the patient's body interior of the sensor assembly and a location and orientation of a needle associated with the needle guide and inserted in the portion of the patient's body adjacent the one or more vessels; a computer operably coupled to the converter; and a display device operably coupled to the computer and configured to simultaneously display the images respectively depicting transverse sectional and longitudinal sectional views of the one or more vessels and the location and orientation of the needle in relation to displayed longitudinal grid markings and transverse grid markings, each of the displayed longitudinal and transverse grid markings comprising value indicia correlated respectively to the value indicia of the longitudinal grid markings and transverse grid markings of the grid system on the exterior surface of the cover to enable orientation and positioning of the sensor assembly and insertion of the needle into a target vessel by using the displayed images in conjunction with the displayed grid markings.