Ultrasound imaging system and method for detecting position and orientation of a coherent reflector

A method for detecting a coherent reflector with an ultrasound imaging system including a processor, the method comprising:

• acquiring ultrasound channel data from a volume with a probe including a 2D aperture;
• calculating, with the processor, a Modified Radon Transform (MRT) from the ultrasound channel data;
• identifying with the processor a first angle of a projection of the coherent reflector in a plane parallel to the 2D aperture based on the MRT;
• detecting with the processor a line-shaped echo pattern in the ultrasound channel data;
• determining, with the processor, a second angle of the coherent reflector with respect to the 2D aperture based on the position of the line-shaped echo pattern;
• determining, with the processor, a position and an orientation of the coherent reflector based on the first angle and the second angle;
• enhancing a representation of the coherent reflector in an image generated based on the ultrasound channel data;
• and
• displaying the image on a display device after enhancing the representation of the coherent reflector.