Patent ID: 8295917

Claim:
A fluorescence endoscope comprising: a light source that emits light for irradiation of a subject; fluorescence image-acquiring section for acquiring an image of fluorescence contained in return light originating from the subject; fluorescence-image generating section for generating fluorescence image data based on fluorescence-related data acquired by the fluorescence image-acquiring section; region-of-concern defining section for defining a region of concern with a higher fluorescence intensity than a surrounding region based on the fluorescence image data; neighboring-region defining section for defining a neighboring region near the region of concern on the basis of the same fluorescence image data as the fluorescence image data used for defining the region of concern; and image-operation section for generating corrected image data based on a ratio of a grayscale level related to fluorescence intensity in the region of concern to a grayscale level related to fluorescence intensity in the neighboring region.