Patent ID: 8657751

Claim:
An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus comprising: an ultrasound probe which has a one-dimensional array type transducer array and an array moving unit moving the one-dimensional array type transducer array in a direction substantially perpendicular to an array direction of the one-dimensional array type transducer array; a transmission and reception circuit which electronically scans with the one-dimensional array type transducer array, and transmits and receives an ultrasonic beam toward a subject to acquire two-dimensional image data; an image producer which produces a three-dimensional ultrasound image using two-dimensional image data acquired by the transmission and reception circuit while mechanically scanning with the one-dimensional array type transducer array in a direction substantially orthogonal to the array direction of the one-dimensional array type transducer array by the array moving unit; a region of interest setter which sets a region of interest in an imaging region; a temperature sensor which detects an internal temperature of the ultrasound probe; and a controller which, when the internal temperature of the ultrasound probe detected by the temperature sensor is equal to or higher than a first set value, controls the transmission and reception circuit such that a composite scan including two different electronic scans being repeated alternately is performed, each of the two different electronic scans being a scan in which transmission and reception of ultrasonic beams for the region of interest set by the region of interest setter are performed as same as when the internal temperature of the ultrasound probe detected by the temperature sensor is below the first set value, and at least one of the two different electronic scans being a temperature rise suppression type scan in which transmission and reception of ultrasonic beams or reception of ultrasonic beams for at least a part of a region other than the region of interest set by the region of interest setter are paused for a longer time period than those when the internal temperature of the ultrasound probe detected by the temperature sensor is below the first set value.