JP2002017719A - Ultrasonograph and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ultrasonograph capable of appropriately extracting the contour of cavity structure in an organism in any condition and to provide a recording medium. SOLUTION: In the case of detecting the structure information of the cavity structure in the organism, a closed curved face has heretofor been determined interpolatively from the information of a near-by closed curved face on the assumption that the cavity structure is the closed curved face which is smoothly changed. In this invention, however, in the case of determining the presence of a bloodstream using color Doppler information, the assumption is released or eased. Consequently, if a defect exists, it is so determined that the defect exists, without determining it as the closed curved face as in a conventional manner, so that an appropriate contour can be extracted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic transducer capable of extracting an observation image in a living body by transmitting an ultrasonic wave into the living body and receiving an ultrasonic wave returning by reflection or scattering. More particularly, the present invention relates to a technique for extracting a contour of a cavity structure such as a left ventricle of a heart.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of automatically extracting a contour of a cavity structure in a living body (for example, an endocardial surface of a left ventricle) as a two-dimensional or three-dimensional image using ultrasonic waves. Is being developed.

In this extraction method, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, an operator sets a closed curve setting image (B mode image) 1.
When a closed curve 102 is set in a portion of the heart that is apparently the left ventricle 101, the discrete points 103 that automatically form the closed curve 102 expand, and the heart chamber 104 and the myocardium 105 (or the ventricular septum 106) ) Interface (ie, left ventricle 1)
A two-dimensional or three-dimensional shape representing the inner film (01) is extracted, and a two-dimensional contour image as shown in FIG. 12 is displayed on a monitor.

[0004] Detection of whether or not the boundary is a boundary surface is performed by using the XY luminance difference between local regions in the left ventricle 101, for example, as shown in FIG. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14A, the XY luminance signal between the local regions is extracted based on the echo wave of the ultrasonic wave,
Further, as shown in FIG. 14B, the boundary surface is detected by thresholding at a luminance of a constant intensity (h).

Here, when automatically extracting the contour of the cavity structure, whether or not the automatic extraction succeeds, that is, the left ventricle 1
01 whether the exact contour shape of the intimal surface can be extracted
It largely depends on the image quality of the B-mode image 100. For example, the brightness of the myocardium 105 and the interventricular septum 106 is high and the heart chamber 1
If the artifacts in 04 are extracted in such a way that they are very suppressed, then a relatively simple algorithm, such as one that only uses the luminance value difference, can achieve sufficient success.

However, since the actual B-mode image has various factors which cause image extraction failure as described below, a simple algorithm cannot achieve a sufficient success.

[0007] The first factor of such failures is that the appearance of artifacts varies from patient to patient. This is because humans have different causes of artifacts depending on their constitution, lung position, rib spacing, and the like. The second factor is that the artifact in the heart chamber is relatively high, and particularly, the portion close to the ultrasonic probe is remarkable. Third
The reason for this is that, in particular, a specific portion such as a side wall portion viewed from the apex approach cannot obtain an ultrasonic echo wave.

Therefore, conventionally, in order to prevent the above-mentioned image extraction failure, even if a boundary surface cannot be detected in a specific area, if the boundary surface can be detected in the vicinity thereof, the boundary surface having appropriate smoothness can be detected. (See Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 8-96143).

[0009]

However, in the conventional method, the cavity structure is a closed surface, and the assumption that the cavity structure changes smoothly is used. Cannot create a surface. In other words, if the boundary surface could not be detected due to the absence of an echo wave signal, it may be due to acoustic reasons such as the inability of ultrasound to reach the ribs, or the tissue itself, such as a defect. It is not possible to recognize that it is not present in the part, so that an appropriate boundary surface cannot be created.

For example, when trying to detect the left ventricular cavity structure, the above-mentioned assumption cannot be established due to the mitral valve, aortic valve, etc., or the ventricular septum is missing and the hole is opened. In some cases, it is detected as if there is no loss by assumption.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and a recording medium capable of appropriately extracting the contour of a cavity structure in a living body without being affected by the shape of the cavity structure. It is intended to provide.

[0012]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to extract a contour of a cavity structure in a living body. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising: an extraction unit configured to extract a contour of the cavity structure based on structure information of the cavity structure and blood flow information of the cavity structure.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for extracting a contour of a cavity structure in a living body by transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave, wherein the cavity structure is formed as a closed curved surface. Contour extracting means for extracting a contour, blood flow detecting means for detecting a blood flow in the cavity structure, and assumption changing means for changing the assumption used in the contour extracting means based on a detection result by the blood flow detecting means. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising:

Further, the invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the assumption changing means changes the assumption by the contour extracting means in a portion where the blood flow is detected by the blood flow detecting means. Item 3. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to item 2.

Further, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the third aspect, the assumption changing means is means for canceling the assumption by the contour extracting means. is there.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the contour extracting means extracts the contour while increasing a search distance from a base point, and when the contour reaches a preset maximum search distance, the contour is extracted. 3. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is means for ending the extraction.

Further, according to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the second aspect, the blood flow detecting means detects a blood flow using a color Doppler diagnostic method. is there.

Furthermore, the invention according to claim 7 is that the blood flow detecting means is means for detecting the presence or absence of blood flow based on blood flow information of a plurality of frames measured within one heartbeat. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:

In the invention described in claim 8, the contour extracting means is means for moving a pixel in an arbitrary frame of the plurality of frames in another frame in accordance with a change in the cavity structure. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 7, wherein:

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the outline extracting means is means for moving a pixel in an arbitrary frame of the plurality of frames in another frame based on electrocardiogram information. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 8, wherein:

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording medium readable by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of the first to ninth aspects.
A recording medium on which is recorded a program capable of executing each operation in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

Here, the "recording medium" is only required to be readable by a program for executing the above operation in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and does not depend on a physical recording method.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 includes an ultrasonic probe 2 having a piezoelectric vibrator, an apparatus main body 3 that transmits an electric pulse to the ultrasonic probe 2 and receives an electric pulse from the ultrasonic probe 2, An ECG (electrocardiogram) sensor 4 connected to 3,
Operation panel 5 and image display device 6 as TV monitor
have.

The operation panel 5 includes various switches that are manually operated by an operator.
Various signals including a stop are output to the apparatus main body 3. The ultrasonic probe 2 is a probe that can transmit and receive ultrasonic waves. On the monitor screen of the image display device 6, a B-mode image which is a closed curve setting image as shown in FIG.
A contour image indicating the contour of the in-vivo cavity structure as shown in FIG.

Further, as shown in FIG.
The system includes a CPU (central processing unit) 7 for controlling the entire ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 and a control program storage unit 8 in which programs necessary for controlling the CPU 6 are stored. The program stored in the control program storage unit 8 is:
This is a program for executing an algorithm described later.

Further, the apparatus main body 3 includes a transmission beam former 10 and a reception beam former 11 connected to the ultrasonic probe 2 via a transmission / reception switching unit 9, and the image display device 6 of the reception beam former 11 On the side, a B-mode processing unit 12 and a color Doppler processing unit 13 are connected. Further, the apparatus body 3 includes a B-mode processing unit 12.
And a display unit 16 via scan converters 14 and 15 connected to the color Doppler processing unit 13, respectively. Further, the device body 3
Is the frame memory 1 connected to the display synthesizing unit 16.
7 and a boundary extraction unit 18.

The display synthesizing unit 16 is connected to the frame memory 17 so that a plurality of frames can be transmitted and received.
Are connected so as to extract contours in the body cavity based on a plurality of frames transmitted from the display synthesizing unit 16 and send the extracted frames to the display synthesizing unit 16. The display synthesizing unit 16 finally sends the image display device 6 B
It is connected to the image display device 6 so that a mode image and a contour extraction image can be displayed.

The apparatus main body 3 includes an ECG unit 19.
have. The ECG unit 19 includes the ECG sensor 4
The R-wave is detected from the electrocardiogram measured by the above, and the R-wave signal is transmitted to the CPU 7.

The transmission beamformer 10 has a C
Under the control of the PU 7, the ultrasonic probe 2 is electrically driven so that ultrasonic waves can be transmitted from the ultrasonic probe 2 to the diagnosis target via the transmission / reception switching unit 9. As a result, the ultrasonic pulse signal is
Is transmitted to the object to be diagnosed, and the echo wave reflected from the object to be diagnosed is converted into an electric signal by the ultrasonic probe 2,
The signal is supplied to the reception beam former 11 via the transmission / reception switching unit 9.

Here, when the contour extraction mode is instructed by the operator in the CPU 7, the ECG unit 1
The transmission beamformer 10 and the reception beamformer 11 are controlled to be driven based on the R-wave signal transmitted from the transmission beamformer 9. This control is for acquiring a plurality of frames constituting the B-mode image and the color Doppler image within one heartbeat. In the present embodiment, one frame forming the B mode image and one frame forming the color Doppler image
A scan for collecting image data of a frame is performed at regular intervals (for example, T = 200 [msec]). Therefore, one heartbeat is usually about 1 [sec]
Considering that, for example, as shown in FIG.
It is possible to obtain a B-mode image information and the color Doppler image information in the period of T ₁ through T ₅ within one heartbeat. T ₁
The period through T _5, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), and 5 frames constituting the B-mode image _(B 1 .about.B _5), 3
It can be acquired in (b) 5 frames constituting the color Doppler image shown in _(C 1 _{~C 5).}

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 1, the echo signal (electric signal) of the echo wave supplied to the reception beam former 11 is subjected to signal processing such as amplification, A / D conversion, and delay processing. The digital echo signal is supplied to the B-mode signal processing unit 11 and the color Doppler signal processing unit 12.

Next, the B-mode signal processing unit 12 and the color Doppler signal processing unit 13 process the signals into B-mode tomographic image data and color Doppler tomographic image data, respectively. The image signal is converted from the sector scanning method to, for example, an interlaced scanning image signal.

These converted image signals are both supplied to the display synthesizing unit 16. The B-mode image signal supplied to the display synthesizing unit 16 is subjected to processing such as screen enlargement and reduction and D / A conversion based on a command from the CPU 7, and is displayed on the image display device 5 as a B-mode image. You. on the other hand,
B-mode image signal and the color Doppler image signal supplied to the display synthesizing unit 16 is also supplied to the sequential frame memory 17, a plurality of frames (B ₁ .about.B ₅ as shown in FIG. 3,
C _{1 to} C ₅ ).

The plurality of frames (B _{1 to} B ₅ , C _{1 to} C ₅ ) stored in the frame memory 17 are stored in the boundary extracting unit 1.
At 8, signal processing is performed in accordance with the following algorithm, and displayed on the image display device 6 via the display synthesizing unit 16 as a contour image.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

In this embodiment, for convenience of explanation, a case where a two-dimensional contour image in the left ventricle of the heart is displayed will be described. In addition, in order to display the two-dimensional contour image on the image display device 6, it is necessary to first display a closed curve setting image. However, since the closed curve setting image is a normal B-mode image, its display method is omitted. A description will be given from the setting of the closed curve. Further, the determination as to whether or not there is a boundary can be performed by several methods.
As shown in FIG. 14 and FIG. 15, since this is performed using the XY luminance difference between the local regions, the description thereof is omitted.

First, as shown in FIG. 4, the operator places an appropriate position (base point) on the closed curve setting image (B-mode image) 20 displayed on the image display device 6 so as to be apparently in the left ventricle 21 of the heart. Curve 22 using the operation panel 5
Set. In this case, the boundary between the heart chamber 23 and the myocardium 24 (or the interventricular septum 25) in the left ventricle 21 has already been detected,
When there is a part that has not been detected yet, a search range of the boundary is set in a direction in which the closed curve 22 is enlarged with respect to the direction in which the part has not been detected. When the setting of the closed curve 22 is completed, the operator sets a search start switch (not shown) on the operation panel 5 to an O in order to start automatic contour extraction.
Set to N. As a result, the apparatus main body 3 (particularly, the boundary extracting unit 18) automatically performs the automatic 2 based on the algorithm shown in FIG.
A two-dimensional contour image is generated and displayed on the image display device 6. Therefore, next, the algorithm shown in FIG. 5 will be described.

First, in the closed curve 22 set by the operator, discrete points for which the detection of the boundary position has not been completed are enlarged by one step (a certain range) (step S1). Next, it is determined whether or not there is a blood flow at an arbitrary discrete point among the enlarged discrete points based on the color Doppler information (step S2).

Here, when the presence or absence of blood flow is determined, it is comprehensively determined from a plurality of frames (C _{1 to} C ₅ ) of the color Doppler image information measured within one heartbeat. That is, 1
Since there is a period (T _{2 to} T ₅ ) in which a blood flow can hardly be measured as shown in FIG. 2 in the heartbeat, accurate measurement of the blood flow is based on at least a plurality of frames in one heartbeat. There is a need to do.

When blood flow is measured based on a plurality of frames, the left ventricle 21 contracts and expands as the heart contracts and expands as shown in FIG. If the presence or absence of blood flow is measured at the pixel 26a (refers to one pixel itself or a group of a plurality of pixels), it is erroneous. Thus, as shown in FIG. 6, when it is determined whether or not there is a blood flow in the pixel 26a in a certain frame, the measurement position is moved to the pixel 26b in the next frame.
The presence or absence of blood flow is always measured at the same site in the left ventricle 21 by measuring whether or not there is a blood flow in the portion. At this time, the left ventricle 21 is determined based on the center of gravity of the left ventricle 21.
Needs to be similarly enlarged or reduced. Also,
The movement from the pixel 26 a to the pixel 26 b is performed based on a command transmitted from the CPU 7 to the boundary extraction unit 18, and this command is synchronized with the heartbeat obtained from the ECG unit 19. In this manner, when it is determined that a defect or the like exists in a certain frame, the portion where the defect exists in the other frame in which the left ventricle 21 has been expanded or contracted has the defect as it is. Contour extraction.

Next, when it is determined in step S2 that there is no blood flow, it is further determined whether or not a boundary exists based on the B-mode information (step S2).
3). If it is determined that there is no boundary, the cavity structure is a closed surface, adopting the same assumption as before that it changes smoothly, and creating a boundary surface by interpolation from the boundary information near the discrete point. The detection of the boundary position at the discrete point ends (step S4). This case corresponds to the discrete point 27a shown in FIG. At the discrete point 27a, it is determined that the boundary does not exist because the luminance is low due to the decrease in the image quality of the B mode. However, it is detected from the color Doppler information that the blood flow does not exist. It is determined that. As a result, a boundary surface is created by interpolation from information near the discrete point 27a.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S3 that there is a boundary, the portion of the discrete point is determined to be a boundary surface.
The detection of the boundary position at the discrete point ends (step S5). This case corresponds to the discrete point 27b shown in FIG. At the discrete point 27b, the boundary between the heart chamber 23 and the myocardium 24 exists, and no defect or the like exists.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S2 that there is a blood flow, it is determined that all of the determinations have been completed because of the discrete points on the closed curve 24, that is, the determination of the boundary position has made one round on the closed curve 24. (Step S)
6). In this case, there are two cases, a discrete point 27c shown in FIG. 7 and a discrete point 27d shown in FIG. Discrete point 2
In the case of 7c, since the blood flow in the left ventricle 21 is detected, it is determined that the blood flow has not reached the boundary surface and there is still room for expansion. In the case of the discrete point 27d, since there is a defect in the ventricular septum 25, it is determined that there is blood flow.

Similarly, in steps S4 and S5,
Also in the case where the detection of the boundary position at the discrete point is completed, it is determined whether or not one round has been made in step S6.

Next, in step S6, the circuit does not make a round on the closed curve 24 with respect to the determination of the boundary position detection at discrete points.
That is, if there is any discrete point on the closed curve 24 for which the determination has not been completed, the process returns to step S2. On the other hand, in step S6, when the circuit has completed one round, that is, when one determination has been completed at the enlarged position of the closed curve, the boundary position detection has been completed at all the discrete points or the maximum search distance has been reached. Is determined (step S
7).

Here, the maximum search distance is set in advance with the center of gravity of the left ventricle 21 as a center, and is intended to prevent the search time from being lengthened by performing an extra search. The maximum search distance can be changed, and the change is performed by operating the operation panel 5.

Subsequently, at step S7, if the detection of the boundary position has not been completed at all the discrete points or if the detection of the boundary position has not reached the maximum search distance, the discrete points at which the detection of the boundary position has not been completed are determined. Is increased by one step, and the determinations in steps S2 to S6 are performed at the enlarged position. On the other hand, in step S7, when the detection of the boundary position is completed at all the discrete points or when the distance reaches the maximum search distance, the detection of the boundary position ends.

Here, in the above step S2, the case of the discrete point 27c shown in FIG. 7 and the case of the discrete point 27d shown in FIG. 8 were considered, but the difference between these two cases is clearly shown in the step 7. Become. That is, in the case of the discrete point 27c, since there is room for expansion, it is determined that the boundary position detection has not been completed at all the discrete points, and the process returns to step S1. On the other hand, in the case of the discrete point 27d, the detection of the boundary position does not end because the discrete point 27d passes through the defect 26, but if the distance reaches the preset maximum search distance, the boundary position detection is performed at that location. Will end. Note that, in this case, the maximum search distance is set in advance so that the search ends at a position somewhat enlarged from the position of the defect. That is, even if the ventricular septum 25 is defective 26
Does not mean that the boundary position detection does not end unless the discrete points reach the myocardium of the right ventricle, but that the operator can recognize that there is a defect when looking at the contour extraction image. , The discrete points are enlarged.

When the above-mentioned algorithm is used, when the mitral valve and the aortic valve are open, there is a blood flow.
It is determined in the same way as when there is a defect, and the boundary position is detected up to the left atrium and aorta, but since the mitral valve and aortic valve are bright, they can be clearly displayed on the monitor, so the operator may misidentify There is no.

As described above, by the specific algorithm of the present embodiment, finally, on the monitor of the image display device 6,
A two-dimensional contour extraction image as shown in FIG. 9 is displayed.
If the present embodiment is applied to three dimensions, that is, if the closed curve 24 is developed into a spherical shape, a three-dimensional contour extraction image as shown in FIG. 10 is displayed. Thereby, the operator can recognize that the defect 26 exists in the interventricular septum 25.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, even when the image quality of the B-mode image is poor due to different artifacts between patients, etc., the above assumption (the cavity structure is a closed curved surface and it changes smoothly) ), The failure of pixel extraction is eliminated, and the adverse effects caused by using the above assumption are eliminated using color Doppler information, so that the contour of the cavity structure in the living body can be obtained under any circumstances. Can be appropriately extracted.

The program for executing the above algorithm is stored in the control program storage unit 8, but is not limited to this. The program is recorded on an FD, CD-ROM, CD-R or the like. , DVD, M
The program may be installed in the control program storage unit 8 using a recording medium such as D, MO, or magnetic tape, and processed in the same manner as the above procedure.

Further, in the present embodiment, various settings can be made using the operation panel 5 of the image display device. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various settings can be made using the touch panel formed on the monitor of the image display device 6. May be performed.

Further, in this embodiment, the closed curve setting image 20 and the two-dimensional contour extraction image 28 (or the three-dimensional contour extraction image 29) are separately displayed on one screen of the image display device 6. Not limited, as a two-screen display,
Each may be displayed simultaneously. Further, two image display devices 6 are used to display the closed curve setting image 20 on one screen and the two-dimensional contour extraction image 28 (or three-dimensional contour extraction image 29) on the other screen. Is also good.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The cavity structure eliminates the degradation of the image quality in B mode by using the assumption that it smoothly changes on a closed surface, and eliminates the adverse effect caused by using the assumption using color Doppler information, thereby reducing the cavity structure. Irrespective of the shape of the body, the contour of the cavity structure in the living body can be appropriately extracted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an electrocardiogram measured by an ECG unit 19 of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing B-mode image information and color Doppler image information recorded in a frame memory 17 of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a closed curve setting image 20 displayed on a monitor of the image display device 6 of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an algorithm for contour extraction performed by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing the movement of a pixel 26 performed when the boundary extraction unit 18 of the embodiment determines the presence or absence of a blood flow.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a closed curve setting image 20 displayed on a monitor of the image display device 6 of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a closed curve setting image 20 displayed on a monitor of the image display device 6 of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a two-dimensional contour extraction image displayed on a monitor of the image display device 6 according to the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a three-dimensional contour extraction image 29 displayed on a monitor of the image display device 6 of the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a closed curve setting image 100 displayed on a monitor of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

FIG. 12 is a view showing a two-dimensional contour extracted image displayed on a monitor of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

FIG. 13 is a conceptual diagram showing a position (X-Y) at which a threshold is set at a luminance of a constant intensity (h) when performing contour extraction according to the related art and the present embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing luminance at a position for performing the slash hold when performing contour extraction according to the related art and the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 2 ultrasonic probe 3 apparatus main body 4 ECG sensor 5 operation panel 6 image display device (monitor) 7 CPU 8 control program storage section 9 transmission / reception switching section 10 transmission beamformer 11 reception beamformer 12 B mode processing Unit 13 Color Doppler processing unit 14 Scan converter 15 Scan converter 16 Display synthesis unit 17 Frame memory 18 Boundary extraction unit 20 Closed curve setting image (B mode image) 21 Left ventricle 22 Closed curve 23 Heart cavity 24 Myocardium 25 Ventricular septum 26 Pixel 27 Discrete Point 28 2D contour extraction image 29 3D contour extraction image 100 Closed curve setting image 101 Left ventricle 102 Closed curve 103 Discrete point 104 Heart chamber 105 Myocardium 106 Ventricular septum

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Nobuo Yamazaki 1385-1 Shimoishigami, Otawara-shi, Tochigi F-term in Toshiba Nasu Plant (reference) 4C301 DD04 DD07 EE11 FF28 JC08 JC20 KK21

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for extracting a contour of a cavity structure in a living body by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, wherein the contour of the cavity structure is determined based on structural information of the cavity structure and blood flow information of the cavity structure. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising: an extracting unit configured to extract an image. 2. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for extracting a contour of a cavity structure in a living body by transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave, wherein contour extraction means for extracting the contour assuming that the cavity structure comprises a closed curved surface, Blood flow detecting means for detecting a blood flow in the cavity structure; and assumption changing means for changing the assumption used in the contour extracting means based on a detection result by the blood flow detecting means. Ultrasound diagnostic equipment. 3. The hypothesis changing unit changes the hypothesis by the contour extraction unit in a portion where the blood flow is detected by the blood flow detection unit.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to item 1. 4. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said assumption changing means is means for canceling said assumption by said contour extracting means. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the contour extracting means extracts the contour while increasing a search distance from a base point, and terminates the contour extraction when the contour reaches a preset maximum search distance. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein: 6. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said blood flow detecting means detects the blood flow using a color Doppler diagnostic method.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to item 1. 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said blood flow detecting means is means for detecting the presence or absence of blood flow based on a plurality of frames of blood flow information measured within one heartbeat. Ultrasound diagnostic device. 8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the contour extracting means is means for moving a pixel in an arbitrary frame of the plurality of frames in another frame in accordance with a change in the cavity structure. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to item 1. 9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the contour extracting means is means for moving a pixel in an arbitrary frame of the plurality of frames in another frame based on electrocardiogram information. Ultrasound diagnostic equipment. 10. A recording medium readable by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of the claims 1 to 8 is a recording medium. A recording medium on which a program capable of executing each operation in the device is recorded.