An image processing device having a very straightforward construction, for
obtaining an image in which normal tissue and diseased tissue are easy to
identify, comprises: an image synthesizing section that generates a
synthesized image by synthesizing an image signal of reflected light
image produced by illumination light obtained by illuminating body tissue
with illumination light and an image signal of a fluorescent image
obtained by illuminating the body tissue with excitation light; and a
gain adjustment section that adjusts the gain of the image signal of the
reflected light image and/or the image signal of the fluorescent image
such that the boundary of the hues of the normal tissue and diseased
tissue found from the optical characteristics of the respective tissues
is contained in a predetermined range with respect to a prescribed
standard chromaticity diagram, depending on whether the body tissue that
is displayed on the synthesized image generated by the image synthesizing
section is normal tissue or diseased tissue.