Interventional device positioning relative to an ultrasound image plane

A method of determining a position of an interventional device relative to an image plane defined by an ultrasound imaging probe of a beamforming ultrasound imaging system, the method comprising:

• generating a reconstructed ultrasound image corresponding to the image plane defined by the ultrasound imaging probe;
• detecting a maximum intensity ultrasound signal from among ultrasound signals transmitted between the ultrasound imaging probe and an ultrasound transducer attached to the interventional device;
• computing a position of the ultrasound transducer relative to the image plane based on a time of flight of the maximum detected intensity ultrasound signal;
• indicating the computed position of the ultrasound transducer in the reconstructed ultrasound image;
• and
• suppressing entirely indication of the position of the ultrasound transducer in the reconstructed ultrasound image if a rate of change of the computed position exceeds a first predetermined rate.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for determining a position of an interventional device relative to an image plane defined by an ultrasound imaging probe of a beamforming ultrasound imaging system, the instructions, when executed on a processor, cause the processor to:

• generate a reconstructed ultrasound image corresponding to the image plane defined by the ultrasound imaging probe;
• detect a maximum intensity ultrasound signal from among ultrasound signals transmitted between the ultrasound imaging probe and an ultrasound transducer attached to the interventional device;
• compute a position of the ultrasound transducer relative to the image plane based on a time of flight of the maximum detected intensity ultrasound signal;
• indicate the computed position in the reconstructed ultrasound image;
• and
• suppress entirely indication of the position of the ultrasound transducer in the reconstructed ultrasound image if a rate of change of the computed position exceeds a first predetermined rate.