Patent ID: 7270634

Claim:
An ultrasonic surgical guidance imaging system which acts to guide the placement or observe the operation of an invasive medical device comprising: an ultrasonic probe including an array transducer which steers ultrasonic beams over a volumetric surgical region ( 120 ) for image guidance of the placement or operation of an invasive medical device; a detector responsive to the placement of an invasive medical device which acts to detect the location of the device in an image region; a transmit beamformer coupled to the array transducer and responsive to the detected location of an invasive medical device which acts to control the array transducer to transmit a greater beam density in the sub-volumetric region in the vicinity of the location of the invasive medical device than the beam density in the volumetric region surrounding the sub-volumetric region; a receive beamformer coupled to the array transducer and responsive to echo signals from array elements for the formation of beams of coherent echo signals; an image processor responsive to the coherent echo signals for producing a three dimensional ultrasonic image of the volumetric surgical region and the sub-volumetric region in the vicinity of the invasive medical device; and a display coupled to the image processor which displays the three dimensional ultrasonic image of the volumetric surgical region and the sub-volumetric region in the vicinity of the invasive medical device.