Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and image processing method

An image processing method, comprising:

• with respect to pieces of image data of a plurality of cross sections passing through a heart of a subject that have been collected by individually ultrasonically scanning each of the cross sections for a period of at least one heart beat, performing tracking processing including two-dimensional pattern matching to generate pieces of analysis information in each of which a cardiac wall motion of the heart in each section is analyzed;
• matching time phases at starting points of the image data of the cross sections without chancing frame intervals of the image data of the cross sections;
• mapping the pieces of analysis information of the cross sections on a predetermined polar coordinate system based on the time phases of the cross sections with the matched starting points to generate a polar coordinate display image;
• and
• causing display of the polar coordinate display image.

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising processing circuitry configured to

• with respect to pieces of image data of a plurality of cross sections passing through a heart of a subject that have been collected by ultrasonically scanning each of the cross sections for a period of at least one heart beat, perform tracking processing including two-dimensional pattern matching to generate pieces of analysis information in each of which a cardiac wall motion of the heart in each cross section is analyzed,
• match time phases of the pieces of analysis information of the cross sections and map the pieces of analysis information of the cross sections with the matched time phases on a predetermined polar coordinate system to generate a polar coordinate display image, and
• cause display of the polar coordinate display image, wherein the processing circuitry generates the polar coordinate display image based on a piece of analysis information of a cross section, for which the wall motion analysis has been completed, out of the cross sections,
• once the wall motion analysis operation for a cross section other than the cross section, for which the wall motion analysis has been completed, has been newly completed, updates the generated polar coordinate display image based on the piece of analysis information of the other cross section, and
• every time the polar coordinate display image is updated, causes display of the updated polar coordinate display image.