Patent ID: 7981037

Claim:
An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus, comprising: a transmitter/receiver section for transmitting and receiving ultrasound with respect to a fetal heart; a motion information measurement section for measuring motion information representing a temporal change of a shape of the heart caused by periodical motion of the fetal heart, based on data obtained by transmission and reception of the ultrasound; and a time measurement section for measuring a specific time in the periodical motion of the fetal heart based on the motion information, wherein the motion information measurement section includes: an extraction section for extracting, for each frame, a region corresponding to a portion of interest in the fetal heart based on echo data which is used for forming a tomographic image, the echo data having been obtained by transmission and reception of the ultrasound; an area calculation section for calculating an area concerning the region corresponding to the portion of interest for each frame; a graph generation section for generating, as the motion information, a graph representing a temporal change in the area which is calculated for each frame; and a peak specification section for performing waveform analysis of the graph generated as the motion information to specify a peak for each heartbeat, wherein the peak corresponds to the specific time, wherein, when a plurality of local maximum values are present on the graph, the peak specification section specifies the peak among the plurality of local maximum values by using a determination window which is smaller than a standard cardiac period concerning the fetal heart, wherein the plurality of local maximum values include a first local maximum value P 1 and a second local maximum value P 2 which is detected next to the first local maximum value P 1 , wherein the peak specification section: (a) sets the determination window to be after the first local maximum value P 1 ; (b1) when the second local maximum value P 2 is not detected within the set determination window, determines that the first local maximum value P 1 is the peak; and (b2) when the second local maximum value P 2 is detected within the set determination window, compares the first local maximum value P 1 and the second local maximum value P 2 to thereby determine the peak.