Method and apparatus for calculating the contact position of an ultrasound probe on a head

A method for assisting optimized positioning of an associated medical ultrasound transceiver on a head of an associated patient for ultrasound imaging a region of interest within the head of the associated patient by the associated medical ultrasound transceiver, the method comprising executing, on a processor of a computer, steps of:

• acquiring by a computer comprising a processing unit operatively coupled with a memory storing a program that is executable by the processor to perform the method region of interest data, the region of interest data being representative of the region of interest in the head of the associated patient and corresponding to at least a part of a vessel in a vascular structure in the head of the associated patient;
• acquiring by the computer a bone dataset, the bone dataset being representative of the three-dimensional bone structure of the head of the associated patient;
• acquiring by the computer contact region data, the contact region data being representative of a contact region for the positioning of the associated medical ultrasound transceiver on the head of the associated patient, wherein the contact region corresponds to a location on the head of the associated patient of one or more acoustic windows defined by the three-dimensional bone structure of the head of the associated patient;
• determining by the computer at least one target point in the region of interest;
• determining by the computer at least two entry points on the contact region;
• determining by the computer a set of all possible lines extending from each of the at least two entry points to the at least one target point;
• determining by the computer a set of remaining lines by eliminating from the set of all possible lines those lines that pass through a bony structure other than bone structure defining the one or more acoustic windows;
• calculating by the computer a score value for each line of the set of remaining lines, wherein the score value represents a suitability of the corresponding line for the ultrasound imaging of the at least one target point;
• selecting by the computer the entry point of a line with the highest score value as an optimum contact position of the ultrasound transceiver for the ultrasound imaging;
• and
• providing by an interface of the computer a signal representative of the optimum contact position to an associated guidance or navigation system providing guidance or navigation information to be followed by an associated user positioning the associated medical ultrasound transceiver on the head of the associated patient for the ultrasound imaging at the optimum contact position.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processing unit of a computer, causes the processing unit of the computer to perform a method for assisting optimized positioning of an associated medical ultrasound transceiver on a head of an associated patient for ultrasound imaging a region of interest within the head of the associated patient by the associated medical ultrasound transceiver, the method comprising:

• acquiring region of interest data, the region of interest data being representative of the region of interest in the head of the associated patient and corresponding to at least a part of a vessel in a vascular structure in the head of the associated patient;
• acquiring a bone dataset, the bone dataset being representative of the three-dimensional bone structure of the head of the associated patient;
• acquiring contact region data, the contact region data being representative of a contact region for the positioning of the associated medical ultrasound transceiver on the head of the associated patient, wherein the contact region corresponds to a location on the head of the associated patient of one or more acoustic windows defined by the three-dimensional bone structure of the head of the associated patient;
• determining at least one target point in the region of interest;
• determining at least two entry points on the contact region;
• determining a set of all possible lines extending from the at least two entry points to the at least one target point;
• determining a set of remaining lines by eliminating from the set of all possible lines those lines that pass through a bony structure other than bone structure defining the one or more acoustic windows;
• calculating a score value for each line of the set of remaining lines, wherein the score value represents a suitability of the corresponding line for the ultrasound imaging of the at least one target point;
• and
• selecting the entry point of the line with the highest score value as an optimum contact position of the ultrasound transceiver for the ultrasound imaging;
• and
• providing a signal representative of the optimum contact position to an associated guidance or navigation system providing guidance or navigation information to be followed by an associated user positioning the associated medical ultrasound transceiver on the head of the associated patient for the ultrasound imaging at the optimum contact position.