Mobile-Optimized Real-Time Vessel Detection for Ultrasound-Guided Surgical Procedures

Fin Amin

Abstract: Non-compressible torso hemorrhage is the leading cause of potentially survivable fatalities in civilian and battlefield trauma. An insufficient number of trauma surgeons are expected to be available in future large-scale combat operations and natural disasters, creating a need for assistive technology to enable fast and accurate vascular access in pre-hospital environments. AI-GUIDE is a handheld surgical tool designed for emergency medical operations that combines an ultrasound probe with real-time image processing software, which controls robotic needle insertion components. Currently, AI-GUIDE relies on an external display/computer to perform the required computations. To reduce its size and weight, we investigate optimizations for mobile inference of the AI algorithms used in the AI-GUIDE prototype.