PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To identify spread etc. of a tumor by quantitatively reliably detecting the boundary of a biological tissue having different elasticity.SOLUTION: A reference area ROR of the biological tissue is set on an elastic image 45, and distortion at the reference area ROR and distortion ratio (elastic ratio) at a plurality of measurement points are obtained. The obtained distortion ratios at the respective measurement points is compared with one or more preset thresholds Sk, and the elastic image is divided into areas having different distortion ratios. Then, the boundary Bk of each area is detected and drawn while being superposed on the elastic image. Thus, the boundary of the biological tissue having the different elasticity is quantitatively reliably detected, thereby the spread etc. of the tumor can be identified.COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT【課題】弾性が異なる生体組織の境界を定量的に確度高く検出して、腫瘍の広がり等を識別可能にする。【解決手段】弾性画像45上に生体組織の参照領域RORを設定し、参照領域RORにおける歪みと複数の計測点の歪み比(弾性比)求め、求められた各計測点における歪み比を予め設定された1又は複数の閾値Skと比較して弾性画像を歪み比が異なる複数の領域に分け、各領域の境界線Bkを検出して弾性画像に重ねて描画することにより、弾性が異なる生体組織の境界を定量的に確度高く検出して、腫瘍の広がり等を識別可能にする。【選択図】 図3
