Ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus, image processing apparatus, and image processing method

The invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus capable of expressing reliability of hardness of a biological tissue on an ultrasonic image, an image processing apparatus, and an image processing method. A transmission section of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus transmits a displacement generating ultrasonic wave for generating a displacement in a biological tissue on the basis of acoustic radiation force from an ultrasonic probe and an observation ultrasonic wave for observing a displacement of the biological tissue in a prescribed scan region generated on the basis of the displacement generating ultrasonic wave from the ultrasonic probe. A reception section generates reflection wave data on the basis of a reflection wave received by the ultrasonic probe. An image generation section calculates displacements at plural positions in the scan region in plural time phases on the basis of the reflection wave data, determines the time phases in which the calculated displacements become substantially maximum at the plural positions respectively, and generates image data in which the determined time phases represent substantially the same positions among the plural positions. A display control section displays an image based on the image data overlapping with a medical image corresponding to the region including the scan region.