DIAGNOSTIC IMAGE GENERATION APPARATUS AND DIAGNOSTIC IMAGE GENERATION METHOD

A three-dimensional region of interest (ROI) is established with a high degree of accuracy, by a simple method without increasing a burden on the operator, in generating a three-dimensional projected image from medical volume data according to rendering, achieving more efficient interpretation of three-dimensional image and streamlining of diagnostic flow, with the use of the diagnostic image generation apparatus. An energy map is generated on a predetermined tomographic plane, assuming a preset start point as a reference and searching for a path that minimizes the energy, and then the path is set as a boundary of the three-dimensional ROI. The start point may be decided on the basis of the boundary inputted by a user, or the user may set the start point. The user may be allowed to adjust the boundary having been set. The boundary may also be determined on another plane orthogonal to the predetermined tomographic plane.