Patent ID: 7198601

Claim:
An ultrasonic enhanced-contrast imager for enabling enhancement of an image when utilizing a contrast medium, characterized in that it comprises an ultrasonic probe for transmitting an ultrasonic wave to an organism and for receiving an ultrasonic wave from the organism, a transmitting section for transmitting an ultrasonic signal to the ultrasonic probe, a receiving section for processing a response signal ultrasonic wave received by said ultrasonic probe, a filter for extracting a specific frequency component from the processed response signal, a setting control section for setting a width of the pass frequency band of said filter so as to enable discrimination of a response signal from a contrast medium injected to the organism with respect to a response signal from a tissue of the organism, and a control section for controlling the operation of said filter in the set pass band, wherein said setting control section sets the pass band of said filter to be in a range from 0.8f 0 to 2.5f 0 , where f 0 is the average frequency of said ultrasonic signal transmitted to said ultrasonic probe.