An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for measuring characteristics of a blood vessel wall based on a three-dimensional image generated from a plurality of short-axis cross-sectional images acquired by scanning an ultrasonic probe along the long-axis direction of a blood vessel A measurement position / angle determination unit for determining a measurement position and a measurement angle of an ultrasonic probe capable of determining a measurement target region in the blood vessel and acquiring a long-axis cross-sectional image including the measurement target region. Further, the current position and angle of the ultrasonic probe, the measurement position and the measurement angle are compared, and a determination unit that acquires a long-axis cross-sectional image when the difference between the two is equal to or less than a threshold, and the long axis A characteristic measurement unit that measures the characteristics of the blood vessel wall using the cross-sectional image is provided.超音波診断装置であって、血管の長軸方向に沿って超音波探触子を走査して取得した複数の短軸断面画像から生成した３次元像に基づいて血管壁の特性を測定するための血管における測定対象領域を決定し、当該測定対象領域を含む長軸断面画像を取得できる超音波探触子の測定位置及び測定角度を決定する測定位置・角度決定部を備える。さらに、超音波探触子の現在の位置及び角度と、測定位置及び測定角度とを比較し、両者の差異が閾値以下となったときに長軸断面画像を取得させる判定部と、当該長軸断面画像を用いて血管壁の特性を測定する特性測定部を有する。
