Patent ID: 8852106

Claim:
An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus comprising: a probe that emits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from a three-dimensional region including an object in periodic motion; and a control unit, wherein the control unit is configured to: control the probe such that a scanning plane is displaced over a plurality of periods of the motion so as to form a plurality of scanning planes within the three-dimensional region; set a virtual period which is a temporary period of motion relating to the object; search for a plurality of base images from an image string constituted of a plurality of images corresponding to the plurality of scanning planes based on a mutual difference value which is a feature amount relating to the periodicity of the motion; divide the image string into a plurality of image groups using the respective base images as dividing units, and extracts a plurality of images which correspond to one another on a periodic basis from the respective image groups; and form a display image of the object based on the plurality of images which correspond to one another on a periodic basis; wherein the mutual difference value is calculated for each of the images by multiplying a difference between a pixel value of the image and a pixel value of an adjacent image by one of these two pixel values.