Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus

Abstract

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus wherein an echo signal produced by scanning an ultrasonic beam at a three dimensional region is received and a two dimensional cross sectional image and three dimensional information based on the echo signal are obtained. A display is operable in a first mode in which only the cross sectional image is displayed, a second mode in which only the three dimensional information is displayed, and a third mode in which the three dimensional information overlapped with said cross sectional image is displayed. The three dimensional information at least includes a portion of the two dimensional cross sectional image, and preferably adjacent front side and rear side regions. In a preferred embodiment, the three dimensional information is color doppler information and the two dimensional cross sectional image is a gray scale image, and the areas of the cross sectional surfaces in which the color doppler information is obtained in a direction perpendicular to the front and back of the gray scale two dimensional cross sectional image become smaller as the distance from the gray scale two dimensional cross sectional image increases.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.