REFERENCE IMAGE DISPLAY METHOD FOR ULTRASONOGRAPHY AND ULTRASONOGRAPH

摘要

Ultrasonograms (105, 106) are created by means of ultrasonic probe (104). Volume image data is created previously by using an image diagnosis apparatus (102) and stored in a volume data storage unit (107). From the stored volume image data, a tomogram corresponding to the scan surface of the ultrasonic images is extracted, and a reference image (111) is formed from the tomogram. The ultrasonograms and the reference image are displayed on the same screen (114). An area of the reference image corresponding to the viewing area of the ultrasonogram is extracted, and a reference image of the same portion as that of the ultrasonic image is displayed as a fan image and/or displayed with the same magnification as that of the ultrasonograms. Thus, the correspondence between both images can be easily grasped. The luminance of the area in the reference image, out of the viewing area of the ultrasonic image, is lowered and the area is displayed. As a result, contradistinctive observation is possible without losing information included in the reference.