Patent ID: 8535231

Claim:
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: an ultrasonic probe in which ultrasonic transducers for transmitting ultrasonic waves and receiving echoes of said ultrasonic waves are two-dimensionally arranged, said ultrasonic probe configured to scan a three-dimensional area inside of a patient's body with said ultrasonic waves; a tomographic image processor configured to generate a tomographic image of said three-dimensional area of the patient's body in a cross section, based on reception signals indicative of said echoes received by said ultrasonic transducers from inside of said patient's body; a head mounted display configured to be mounted on a head of an operator, said head mounted display including an orientation detector configured to output signals corresponding to motion of the head of said operator and a projector configured to project at least said tomographic image in said operator's view; a rotation measurement processor configured to measure rotation direction and rotation angle of the head of said operator on which said head mounted display is mounted with reference to a predetermined orientation of said head mounted display, based on the signals output from said orientation detector; and a tomographic image switch section for switching said tomographic image projected by said projector, said cross section of said tomographic image is selected from a plurality of predetermined cross sections, according to said rotation direction and a range of said rotation angle measured by said rotation measurement section and wherein in said tomographic switch image section, said rotation angle for switching said tomographic image is different between an outward rotation in which said head mounted display is rotated in a direction becoming further from said predetermined orientation and a return rotation in which said head mounted display is rotated in a direction becoming closer to said predetermined orientation.