BACKGROUND: Applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in medical ultrasound have rapidly grown in recent years. Therefore, it is necessary to identify and visualize global research trends and hotspots of AI in medical ultrasound to provide guidance for further exploitation. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to highlight the global research trends and hotspots of the top 100 most-cited papers related to AI in medical ultrasound by combining quantitative and visualization methods. METHODS: Articles on AI in medical ultrasound were selected from the WoSCC database and ranked by citation count. After identifying the 100 most-cited papers, we conducted a quantitative and visualized analysis of bibliometric characteristics, including leading research countries, prominent institutions, key authors and journals, author clusters and collaborations, and keyword co-occurrence network analysis. RESULTS: The top 100 highly cited papers from the WoSCC database were published between 1999 and 2021, with total citations ranging from 91 to 1580. The most cited article was published in IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging. The top three most prolific countries/regions were the United States, mainland China, and the United Kingdom. The most published institutions and journals were Idaho University and IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging. Twelve authors published more than four papers, with Suri, JS being the most productive author. The most studied topics were "ultrasound", "computer-aided diagnosis", and "segmentation". Ultrasonography of Superficial Organs was the main site that was studied the most. CONCLUSION: This study provides comprehensive insights into the characteristics of AI in medical ultrasound through quantitative and visualized analysis of the most highly cited literature. It serves as a valuable reference for the development and applications of AI, fostering potential collaborations within this domain.