Ultrasonic probe and apparatus for obtaining ultrasonic image

An ultrasonic probe, comprising:

• an ultrasonic transducer section, having a plurality of ultrasonic transducers provided in a row in a scanning direction, that transmits ultrasonic waves to a subject to be examined and receives the reflection waves from said subject to be examined;
• a convergence component for converging the ultrasonic waves to be transmitted and received in a direction perpendicular to both said scanning direction and to a direction of transmitting said ultrasonic waves;
• a low attenuation medium in solid state;
• a probe shell;
• and
• a puncture needle guide in said low attenuation medium to guide the puncture needle into said subject to be examined in a direction perpendicular to the contact surface side, wherein
• said probe shell is configured to house said low attenuation medium, said convergence component, and said ultrasonic transducer section in order therein;
• said low attenuation medium is tapered toward a tip on an opposite side from the convergence component;
• said ultrasonic transducer section transmits the ultrasonic waves to said subject to be examined and receives the reflection waves from said subject to be examined through said convergence component and said low attenuation medium;
• a thickness of the low attenuation medium in a transmission/reception direction is set to exceed a required distance from a probe surface so that a stable and uniform sound field distribution of the ultrasound waves is formed near the probe surface;
• and
• a position of the contact surface side contacting said subject to be examined is substantially equal to the position of a focus of said ultrasonic waves.

An apparatus for obtaining an ultrasonic image, comprising:

• an ultrasonic transducer section, including a plurality of ultrasonic transducers, that transmits ultrasonic waves to a subject to be examined and receives reflection waves from said subject to be examined;
• a low attenuation medium;
• a convergence component that converges the ultrasonic waves;
• a probe shell;
• a puncture needle guide in said low attenuation medium to guide a puncture needle into said subject to be examined in a direction perpendicular to the contact surface side;
• and
• an image data generator, wherein
• said probe shell is configured to house said low attenuation medium, said convergence component, and said ultrasonic transducer section in order therein;
• said ultrasonic transducer section transmits the ultrasonic waves to said subject to be examined through said convergence component and said low attenuation medium and receives the reflection waves from said subject to be examined;
• a thickness of the low attenuation medium in a transmission/reception direction is set to exceed a required distance from a probe surface so that a stable and uniform sound field distribution of the ultrasound waves is formed near the probe surface;
• and
• said image data generator is configured to generate ultrasonic wave image data according to the reflection wave received by said ultrasonic transducer section.