Patent ID: 8568323

Claim:
An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus configured to generate centesis support data based on volume data acquired from a 3D volume including a target region during a centesis needle insertion time, the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus comprising: a centesis needle data generating unit configured to generate centesis needle data indicating a position and a direction of a centesis needle inserted in the 3D volume by processing the volume data; a centesis needle MPR cross-sectional plane setting unit configured to set up a centesis needle MPR cross-sectional plane including the centesis needle data onto the volume data; a crossing angle detecting unit configured to detect a crossing angle formed between a target MPR cross-sectional plane traversing the target region, which is set up on the volume data and the centesis needle MPR cross-sectional plane, the detecting determining a degree of angular difference between the target MPR cross-sectional plane and the centesis needle MPR cross-sectional plane; an MPR image data generating unit configured to generate a target image data on the target MPR cross-sectional plane of the volume data and a centesis needle image data on the centesis needle MPR cross-sectional plane; a centesis support data generating unit configured to generate the centesis support data by composing the target image data and the centesis needle image data based on the crossing angle, the centesis support data showing a relative position of the centesis needle with respect to the target MPR cross-sectional plane; and a display unit configured to display the centesis support data.