Ultrasound blood vessel imaging and cannulation assistance systems

An ultrasound blood vessel cannulation assistance system comprising:

• a 3D ultrasound probe operable to capture 3D volume data of tissue containing one or more blood vessels;
• and
• a processor in communication with the 3D ultrasound probe and configured to:
• receive the data and convert the data to a volume of ultrasound images,
• process the ultrasound images using an image segmentation method to identify a blood vessel lumen independent of surrounding tissue and generate a segmented vessel,
• generate a 3D model of the blood vessel based on the segmented vessel, and
• provide a cannulation recommendation based on the 3D model, wherein the cannulation recommendation comprises at least one of a cannulation suitability rating, a recommended cannulation path, a recommended needle diameter, a needle length, a measurement of the vessel diameter, a measurement of the vessel depth, and the maximum straight path diameter within the target vessel.

A 3D ultrasound-assisted cannulation method, comprising:

• using a 3D ultrasound probe to capture 3D volume data of tissue containing one or more blood vessels;
• using a processor in communication with the 3D ultrasound probe, converting the data to a volume of ultrasound images and processing the ultrasound images using an image segmentation method to identify a blood vessel lumen independent of surrounding tissue and generate a segmented vessel;
• using the processor, generating a 3D model of the blood vessel based on the segmented vessel;
• and
• using the processor, providing a cannulation recommendation based on the 3D model, wherein the cannulation recommendation comprises at least one of a cannulation suitability rating, a recommended cannulation path, a recommended needle diameter, a needle length, a measurement of the vessel diameter, a measurement of the vessel depth, and the maximum straight path diameter within the target vessel.