This invention discloses an ultrasonic probe, an ultrasonic imaging system and their detail usage for biopsy needle visualization enhancement. The invention adds new lateral element arrays in the elevation direction of a center element array of a conventional linear/curve linear array probe, and allows a clinician to control the lateral element arrays to be turned on or off manually, or by a system analysis unit through intelligent judgment. During imaging, when the lateral element arrays are turned on, they will substantially enlarge the effective range of an ultrasonic field created by this probe in a needle body searching mode, so that the needle body is more easily captured and displayed in an image. By turning off the lateral arrays after the needle body is captured, a high-resolution imaging mode is recovered, thus the image quality will still be good enough for conventional clinical usage.
