Patent ID: 6677985
Filing Date: 2004-01-13
Classification: A61B,G01S

Abstract:
An ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:means for transmitting ultrasonic beams in a given direction in which an internal organ in an object to be inspected or blood flows; means for receiving reflected echo signals affected by a Doppler effect due to the moving internal organ or the blood flow; and means for detecting a region in which the moving internal organ or the blood flow exists from the received reflected echo signals, so as to image the distribution of irregularities of acoustic characteristics due to body tissues in said object to be inspected and the moving internal organ or blood flow as ultrasonic images, wherein the reflected echo signals from the region in said object to be inspected where the presence of the moving internal organ or blood flow is detected are used to compensate irregularities of acoustic characteristics of body tissues in said object to be inspected, so that delay data for adaptive imaging necessary to make ultrasonic waves be in phase at the detection region may be determined at adjacent transducers on an ultrasonic probe, and the ultrasonic transmission/reception is carried out by using the thus determined delay data to perform adaptive image processing.