Patent ID: 8894579
Filing Date: 2014-11-25
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising: a display region setting unit configured to set a display region for displaying a 3D image; a transmitting/receiving unit configured to transmit and receive ultrasound waves; a first generating unit configured to control the transmitting/receiving unit to perform a 3D scanning on the display region, and generate volume data; an analysis region setting unit configured to, on the basis of variance values of brightness information in the volume data, set a 3D analysis region to be used for calculation of a cycle of fluctuation over time, wherein the analysis region setting unit is configured to obtain a first region on a first single cross-sectional image included in the volume data out of a plurality of regions divided in a scanline direction on the first single cross-sectional image, where a temporal variance value of brightness information is higher than a first threshold, a second region on a second single cross-sectional image included in the volume data out of a plurality of regions divided in an orthogonal direction to the scanline direction on the second single cross-sectional image, where a temporal variance value of brightness information is higher than a second threshold, and a third region on a third single cross-sectional image included in the volume data out of a plurality of regions divided in an sweep direction on the third single cross-sectional image, where a temporal variance value of brightness information is higher than a third threshold, and set the 3D analysis region as a region formed by the first, second, and third regions; an analyzing unit configured to, on the basis of the data on the 3D analysis region contained in the volume data, analyze fluctuations in signal intensity over time; a calculating unit configured to, on the basis of the analysis result, detect a peak point of power, and calculate a cardiac cycle; a second generating unit configured to, on the basis of the cardiac cycle and the volume data, generate a data set constructed by data with substantially equal cardiac cycles, and generate data sets corresponding to a plurality of cardiac cycles; and a display configured to perform a rendering processing on each data set of the data sets into a 3D image set, and display the 3D images as a moving image.