Ultrasonic doppler imaging apparatus and method with blood velocity waveform processing

An ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:

• a transceiving part configured to transmit and receive ultrasound with a repetition frequency that corresponds to a velocity range indicating the measurable velocity, to and from a diagnostic site that contains a moving fluid within a body to be examined;
• a Doppler signal-processing part configured to generate a Doppler spectrum image that shows the velocity of said moving fluid based on signals obtained from the transmission and reception of said ultrasound;
• a memory part configured to preliminarily store a modeled value based on a model that correlates a standard blood velocity waveform with an ECG waveform;
• a measured waveform calculation part configured to calculate a measured blood velocity waveform based on said spectrum image of a specified patient, which measured blood velocity waveform includes a valve signal;
• an ECG waveform acquisition part configured to acquire an ECG waveform at a timing corresponding to said measured blood velocity waveform;
• a waveform estimation part configured to estimate a blood velocity waveform of said specified patient based on said specified patients measured blood velocity waveform, said ECG waveform, and said modeled value, the estimated blood velocity waveform being free from a valve signal;
• and
• an interpolator configured to exclude a portion of the measured blood velocity waveform where a difference between the measured blood velocity waveform and the estimated blood velocity waveform exceeds a predetermined threshold for judgement of an influence by a valve signal, and to replace the excluded portion of the measured blood velocity waveform with the estimated blood velocity waveform for interpolation of the difference between the measured blood velocity waveform and the estimated blood velocity waveform.