Ultrasound system with target and medical instrument awareness

A target recognition and needle guidance system, comprising:

• a console including a processor and non-transitory, computer-readable medium having stored thereon logic that, when executed by the processor, is configured to initiate:
• a target recognition process configured to (1) receive user input indicating a desired target, and (ii) identify a blood vessel of a patient corresponding to the desired target by applying a machine learning model to features of candidate targets in ultrasound-imaging data, wherein the blood vessel identified as the desired target is associated with a highest confidence score determined by the machine learning model, and
• a needle guidance process for guiding insertion of a needle into the blood vessel identified as the desired target by the machine learning model, wherein the machine learning model determines a proximity of a trajectory of the needle to the blood vessel identified as the desired target based on magnetic information about the needle, and wherein a catheter is implanted into the blood vessel identified as the desired target following the insertion of the needle;
• and
• an ultrasound probe configured to provide to the console electrical signals corresponding to the ultrasound-imaging data, the ultrasound probe including:
• an array of transducers configured to convert reflected ultrasound signals from the patient into an ultrasound-imaging portion of the electrical signals, and a magnetic sensor configured to provide to the console second electrical signals corresponding to the magnetic information about the needle.