Patent ID: 8257261
Filing Date: 2012-09-04
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. An ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising: a 3D tomographic image data capturing device configured to capture 3D tomographic image data from a 3D region inside a subject; a region-of-interest setting device configured to set a 3D region of interest corresponding to the 3D region in an image memory that stores the 3D tomographic image data; a surface image extracting device configured to extract data on a surface image of a tissue included in the 3D region using the 3D tomographic image data, wherein the surface image is within the 3D region of interest; a stereoscopic display generating device configured to generate stereoscopic display data to display the surface image data stereoscopically; a plane formation device configured to form 2D image data according to the 3D tomographic image data; and a display device configured to display the stereoscopic display data, wherein said region-of-interest setting device is further configured to: generate the 3D region of interest by expanding the 2D region of interest in the 2D tomographic image in a mechanical scan direction and including the tissue boundary in the vicinity of the center.