The document proposes two new methods for detecting blood vessel features in endoscopic images to serve as distinctive image features for computer-assisted minimally invasive surgery. The methods extract branching points and branching segments of blood vessels. Experimental results show that blood vessel features produce a large number of points that are more robust and repeatable than other types of feature points typically used. Combining vessel features with other general features provides new tools for minimally invasive surgery image analysis. The methods and code are made publicly available.