PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ultrasound observation apparatus capable of knowing an accurate MI value according to an observation target.SOLUTION: The ultrasound observation apparatus generates an ultrasound image, on the basis of ultrasound signals acquired by an ultrasound probe which comprises ultrasound transducers transmitting ultrasound to an observation target and receiving ultrasound reflected off the observation target. The ultrasound observation apparatus comprises: a center-frequency calculation unit for calculating a center frequency of the ultrasound, on the basis of the ultrasound signals an attenuation factor calculation unit for calculating the attenuation factor of the ultrasound, on the basis of the ultrasound signals a storage unit for storing previously acquired sound pressure data and an MI value calculation unit for calculating an MI value, on the basis of the attenuation factor calculated by the attenuation factor calculation unit, the center frequency calculated by the center-frequency calculation unit, and the sound pressure data stored in the storage unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1COPYRIGHT: (C)2018,JPO&INPIT【課題】観測対象に応じた正確なMI値を知ることができる超音波観測装置を提供すること。【解決手段】超音波観測装置は、観測対象へ超音波を送信し、該観測対象で反射された超音波を受信する超音波振動子を備えた超音波プローブが取得した超音波信号に基づいて超音波画像を生成する超音波観測装置であって、前記超音波信号に基づいて超音波の中心周波数を算出する中心周波数算出部と、前記超音波信号に基づいて超音波の減衰率を算出する減衰率算出部と、予め取得した音圧データを記憶する記憶部と、前記減衰率算出部が算出した減衰率、前記中心周波数算出部が算出した中心周波数、及び前記記憶部に記憶された音圧データに基づいてMI値を算出するMI値算出部と、を備える。【選択図】図1
