Ultrasound imaging system and method for compounding 3D images via stitching based on point distances

The present invention relates to an ultrasound imaging system (100) for producing spatially compounded 3D ultrasound image data, comprising: -an ultrasound acquisition unit (16) for acquiring a plurality of 3D ultrasound image data having different but at least partially overlapping field of views, -a tracking unit (62) adapted to determine a relative spatial position of each of the plurality of 3D ultrasound image data with respect to each other, and -a stitching unit (64) adapted to compound the plurality of 3D ultrasound image data by stitching them to each other in order to generate compounded 3D ultrasound image data, wherein the stitching unit (64) is adapted to calculate a stitching order of the plurality of 3D ultrasound image data based on the determined relative spatial position of the 3D ultrasound image data by minimizing an overlapping area of the different field of views of the plurality of 3D ultrasound image data, and wherein stitching unit (64) is adapted to stitch the plurality of 3D ultrasound image data according to said stitching order.