The present invention is provided with: a puncture needle detection unit (34) for detecting an image of a puncture needle displayed in an ultrasonic image a movement extraction unit (35) for extracting a linear movement of the tip of the puncture needle on the basis of the history of the puncture needle image in the ultrasonic image and a composite image generation unit (362) for generating a composite image by generating a trajectory of the linear movement extracted by the movement extraction unit (35) and superimposing the trajectory on the ultrasonic image. Thus, the present invention is provided with: an ultrasonic observation apparatus capable of precisely detecting the positions of a plurality of movements of the puncture needle within a subject an ultrasonic observation apparatus operation method and an ultrasonic observation apparatus operation program.
