JP4650045B2 - Ultrasound diagnostic system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic system that generates a medical image using ultrasonic waves.

  In the medical field, an image diagnostic apparatus such as an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is attached with a dedicated image display apparatus such as a CRT display, and a diagnostic image is displayed on a screen and diagnosis is performed using visual observation. Yes. In addition, it is common practice to provide the subject with images obtained from past diagnoses, explain the medical condition and treatment method, and obtain treatment from the subject after obtaining the consent of the subject. It is coming. Furthermore, in health examinations and medical checkups, when presenting results to a subject, there is an increasing demand for presenting the image itself obtained for the subject.

 In recent years, development of electronic medical chart systems in which an expert inputs contents to be examined about a subject and electronically stores them as medical charts has been progressing. A PACS (Picture Achieving and Communication System) is linked to the PACS (Picture Achieving and Communication System).

  With these linkages, the operator can display the images from the previous inspection and determine the inspection items according to the symptoms at that time, or create an electronic medical chart while displaying the images obtained by the inspection. , The electronic medical chart can be attached with an image that clearly shows the patient's symptoms, and the patient's medical history information, examination request information, findings information created by each examination department, etc. The accuracy of the diagnosis is increased by displaying the image.

In this way, in an electronic medical record system linked with medical equipment such as an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus through PACS, document information is also handled together with diagnostic images, so an image display apparatus with good operability suitable for displaying various images Is disclosed in Patent Document 1.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-261038

  However, in the conventional configuration, since the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and the electronic medical record system are based on the cooperation through the medical image storage communication system, it is necessary to store the diagnosed image in the server on the PACS once. is there. Therefore, in order to link the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus and the electronic medical chart, an identifier for identifying the image is attached when the image is stored in the server, and the identifier is then attached when attaching the diagnosed findings to the document. Search and paste it from the server. At this time, it takes time to assign and register the identifier, and there is a problem that a diagnostic image of the subject different from the subject diagnosed when attaching to the electronic medical record may be pasted.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and transmits ultrasonic data collected by an ultrasonic data collection device directly to a general-purpose information processing device such as a personal computer, and displays it on the information processing device. An object is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic system that can quickly and definitely create an electronic medical record by linking a displayed diagnostic image and a diagnostic document without storing the diagnostic image in a server for a dedicated medical image system. And

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, an ultrasonic data collection apparatus according to the present invention transmits an electroacoustic transducer and an electroacoustic transducer driven by a transmission pulse to be transmitted from the electroacoustic transducer and reflected within the subject. An ultrasonic transmission / reception unit that receives an ultrasonic echo that returns and a signal processing unit that generates first ultrasonic image data obtained by performing signal processing on the ultrasonic echo received by the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit; A data transmission / reception unit for transmitting the first ultrasonic image data generated by the signal processing unit.

  The information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a data transmission / reception unit that receives first ultrasonic image data transmitted from a first transmission unit of an ultrasonic data collection device, and the received first ultrasonic image data. The image processing unit converts the number of scanning lines to create second ultrasonic image data, and the display unit displays the second ultrasonic image data as an ultrasonic image.

  Furthermore, the ultrasonic diagnostic system of the present invention receives an electroacoustic transducer and an ultrasonic echo that is transmitted from the electroacoustic transducer and reflected back within the subject by driving the electroacoustic transducer with a transmission pulse. An ultrasonic transmission / reception unit, a signal processing unit that generates first ultrasonic image data obtained by performing signal processing on the ultrasonic echo received by the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit, and a first generated by the signal processing unit An ultrasonic data collection device having a data transmission / reception unit for transmitting the ultrasonic image data to the information processing device, and the first ultrasonic image data transmitted from the first transmission unit of the ultrasonic data collection device A data transmission / reception unit; an image processing unit that converts the number of scanning lines of the received first ultrasonic image data to generate second ultrasonic image data; and the second ultrasonic image data is converted into an ultrasonic image. age And a information processing apparatus having a display unit for displaying.

  With this configuration, an operator can make a diagnosis by displaying an ultrasonic diagnostic image on a general-purpose information processing device such as a personal computer, and can cooperate with a document creation function of the information processing device. Become.

 The information processing apparatus of the present invention further includes a storage unit for storing ultrasonic image data and document data, and an operation unit for instructing movement of the ultrasonic image displayed on the display unit. When the ultrasound image displayed in the first display area of the display unit is moved to the second display area where the document data is displayed, the second ultrasound image data corresponding to the moved ultrasound image Is stored in the storage unit in association with the document data.

 In the ultrasonic diagnostic system of the present invention, the information processing apparatus further includes a storage unit that stores ultrasonic image data and document data, and an operation unit that instructs movement of the ultrasonic image displayed on the display unit. The ultrasonic image displayed on the first display area of the display unit is moved to the second display area on which the document data is displayed by the operation of the operation unit, and corresponds to the moved ultrasonic image. The second ultrasonic image data to be stored is associated with the document data and stored in the storage unit. With this configuration, images that have been determined to be pasted on the electronic medical chart during diagnosis can be added to the medical chart by simple operations such as drag-and-drop operation of the mouse without creating the findings at the time of diagnosis and saving them in the diagnostic image system. Since it can be pasted, an electronic medical chart can be quickly created at the site of the examination, and an erroneous pasting of the diagnostic image can be prevented.

  The information processing apparatus of the present invention further includes a data compression unit that compresses image data, and a data expansion unit that expands compressed image data.

  In the ultrasonic diagnostic system of the present invention, the information processing apparatus further includes a data compression unit that compresses image data and a data decompression unit that decompresses the compressed image data.

  With this configuration, the amount of image data to be stored can be reduced, and a large number of diagnostic images can be stored even in a storage unit such as a small memory.

 The ultrasonic diagnostic system of the present invention further includes a communication line interface unit that transmits and receives the first ultrasonic image data stored in the storage unit to and from the network.

 With this configuration, the same real-time ultrasonic moving image as the ultrasonic image displayed on the personal computer that is the information processing apparatus can be displayed on the screen of the hospital personal computer. Diagnostic information can be shared with other experts. In addition, it is possible to create an electronic medical record having a diagnostic image even in another information processing apparatus located away from the diagnostic site.

 In the ultrasonic diagnostic system of the present invention, the ultrasonic data collecting apparatus is divided into an electroacoustic transducer housing, and a signal processing unit and a data transmitting / receiving unit housing.

 With this configuration, the ultrasonic probe (probe) can be reduced in size and weight, and a diagnostic system that is easier to use can be realized.

  Transmission / reception of the first image data between the ultrasonic data collection apparatus and the information processing apparatus is performed via a network.

  With this configuration, the ultrasonic data collection apparatus can be directly connected to the network, and a diagnostic system can be realized with a simpler configuration.

  According to the ultrasonic diagnostic system of the present invention, an ultrasonic diagnostic image can be charted by an operator with a simple operation on a general-purpose information processing apparatus such as a personal computer without storing the image in a server of a dedicated medical image system. Can be linked with other document information.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an ultrasonic diagnostic system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the transmission pulse generated by the ultrasonic transmission unit 110 in the ultrasonic data collection device 100 drives a 128-ch type ultrasonic probe (electroacoustic transducer) 120, and the ultrasonic probe 120 transmits the inside of the subject. The ultrasonic signal is transmitted to and reception starts simultaneously. The received ultrasonic signal is delayed and synthesized by the ultrasonic receiving unit 130, subjected to signal processing such as filtering processing by the signal processing unit 140, and has the number of data optimized for image conversion (scan conversion). Converted to sonic image data. The ultrasonic image data subjected to signal processing by the signal processing unit 140 is transmitted from the data transmission / reception unit 150 to the information processing apparatus 200 through the interface cable 190 using a serial interface protocol such as USB or IEEE1394.

  The data transmitting / receiving unit 210 of the information processing apparatus 200 receives the ultrasonic image data transmitted via the interface cable 190. The received ultrasonic image data is input to an image processing unit (scan converter) 220. The image processing unit (scan converter) 220 shapes the ultrasonic image data into a screen shape corresponding to the physical shape of the ultrasonic probe 120 and displays the ultrasonic image on the display unit 230 such as a liquid crystal display or a CRT.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasonic diagnostic system of the present invention has the function of an image processing unit (scan converter) 220 on the information processing apparatus 200 side, but the information processing apparatus 200 has an image processing (scan converter) function. By providing this, it is possible to significantly reduce the data rate transmitted to and received from the ultrasonic data collection device.

  First, the amount of information in data transmission with the conventional configuration will be described. When transmitting diagnostic image data from an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having an image processing unit (scan converter) in the apparatus to an information processing apparatus having an electronic medical record application, VGA (VIDEEO GRAPHICS ARRAY) size (640 pixels × 480 lines) ), 8 bits of data at 30 frames / second are required, and as shown in the following (Equation 1), a data rate of 74 Mbps at the effective speed is required, and transmission / reception is performed via the serial interface. If so, the amount of information is too large. Therefore, efficient image compression means such as MPEG is indispensable.

640 × 480 × 30 × 8 = 73.7 Mbps (Formula 1)
Next, the amount of information in the configuration of the present invention will be described. The number of acoustic scanning lines when the 128ch-type ultrasonic probe 120 is connected to the ultrasonic data acquisition apparatus 100 is about 100 at the time of a standard single density sweep. For this reason, the number of image data input to the ultrasonic receiving unit 130 is also the same as the number of acoustic scanning lines, and the number of image data per frame output from the signal processing unit 140 and input to the data transmitting / receiving unit 150. Will also be 100. Similarly, the number of image data per frame received by the data transmitting / receiving unit 210 of the information processing apparatus 200 is also 100. The image processing unit (scan converter) 220 shapes the 100 pieces of image data into a screen shape that matches the physical shape of the probe, and causes the display unit 230 to display a 1-frame VGA-size ultrasonic image.

  When the image displayed on the monitor is VGA size, the optimum image data per acoustic line input to the image processing unit (scan converter) 220 is about 400 dots, so 8-bit data of 30 frames / second. The data rate necessary for transmitting / receiving the data is approximately 10 Mbps in terms of effective speed, as represented by the following (Equation 2).

100 × 400 × 30 × 8 = 9.6 Mbps (Formula 2)
In this way, the configuration shown in FIG. 1 for transmitting and receiving image data before scan conversion can provide an effect equivalent to the case where the information amount is compressed to about 1/7 or less, and is not compressed even with a serial interface such as USB or IEEE1394. Can be sent in the state. It can also be realized by a wireless interface such as IEEE802. Furthermore, since a dedicated circuit (or software) for image compression is not required, there is no time lag for image compression, and no compression processing is performed on the image data input to the image processing unit (scan converter) 220. Therefore, it is possible to provide an excellent ultrasonic diagnostic system in which no image quality degradation occurs.

  Up to this point, the monochrome mode has been described as an example. However, when the color Doppler mode is selected, a color video signal is displayed on the display unit 230 of the information processing apparatus 200. Since 24-bit data of 30 frames / second is required, a data rate of about 221 Mbps at the effective speed is required as represented by the following (Equation 3).

640 × 480 × 30 × 24 = 221.2 Mbps (Expression 3)
However, in general, the frame rate of the color Doppler mode of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is lower than that of the black and white mode, so the data rate of the image data immediately before the image processing unit (scan converter) 220 does not change (or decreases). Therefore, the effective speed represented by (Expression 2) does not change to about 10 Mbps or more. Therefore, even in the color Doppler mode, an effect equivalent to that obtained by compressing image data can be obtained as expressed by the following (formula 4).

9.6 Mbps / 221.2 Mbps = 1/23 (Formula 4)
Since the image processing capability of the personal computer has been remarkably improved, the function of the image processing unit (scan converter) of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus can be constructed only by software. Thus, by incorporating an image processing (scan converter) function as software in a general personal computer, a general-purpose personal computer can be used in an ultrasonic diagnostic system. As a result, it is possible to provide an excellent ultrasonic diagnostic system that does not require dedicated hardware and has great price advantages.

  FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are diagrams illustrating an example of cooperation between the diagnosis system and the electronic medical record. The ultrasonic diagnostic system of the present invention effectively utilizes the cooperation with the electronic medical record by taking advantage of the feature that the data rate transmitted and received between the ultrasonic data collection device and the information processing device can be greatly reduced. can do. Here, the embodiment will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, the operator activates the ultrasound diagnostic application on the right side of the display screen on the display unit 230 of the information processing apparatus 200 and displays the operation screen 231 including the diagnostic image display unit 232. Since the ultrasonic diagnostic system does not have a dedicated console in this embodiment, control of ultrasonic transmission and change of setting of various diagnostic modes are performed by operating setting buttons on the display screen using a cursor. Examples of the operation unit 250 include a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, a button, and a touch panel. Items displayed on the measurement parameter setting unit 234 include the gain of the image and the echo enhancement shown in FIG. Presence / absence, dynamic range, scanning focus position, frame rate, and the like.

 In addition, the electronic medical record application is activated and the electronic medical record application 235 is displayed on the left side of the display screen of the display unit 230. Here, the electronic medical record application displays information and diagnostic status of the subject input by the operator in the diagnosis on the medical record document display unit 237, can be stored as electronic data, and can be used for subsequent diagnosis. Not only software dedicated to electronic medical records, but general-purpose software for document creation may also be used. In this electronic medical record application, a medical record image display unit 236 that is an area to which an image is pasted is prepared together with a medical record document display unit 237.

  The operator performs diagnosis while confirming the current diagnosis image 239 displayed on the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus application 231. When a desired image is obtained during the diagnosis, the freeze button 233 is selected by selecting the freeze button 233 by operating the operation unit 250 such as a mouse, and then the cursor 238 is displayed as a diagnostic image as shown in FIG. Set to 239. Thereafter, the diagnostic image 239 is moved to the display screen 236 in the electronic medical record application 234 by a drag-and-drop operation of the operation unit 250 as shown in FIG. When the diagnostic image is displayed on the display screen 236 on the electronic medical record application 234, this operation causes the ultrasonic image data after scan conversion corresponding to the diagnostic image 239 displayed on the display screen 236 to be electronically converted. The data is recorded in a storage unit 240 including a RAM, a ROM, a hard disk drive (HDD), or the like in the information processing apparatus 200 in a form corresponding to the medical record finding document data.

  In the above example, the image displayed on the medical chart image display unit 236 of the electronic medical chart application 235 is the diagnostic image itself, but represents one or a plurality of diagnostic images corresponding to the diagnostic image, not the diagnostic image itself. A virtual image (icon) may be used.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for cooperation with the electronic medical record application in the display unit, and FIG. 4 shows details of the storage unit 240. When the information processing apparatus 200 receives image data from the ultrasonic data collection apparatus 100 (step S1), identification information n is attached to the image data DA before scan conversion, and sequentially stored as DAn in the diagnostic application storage area 243 of the storage unit 240. (Step S2). The image data DAn is sent to the image processing unit 220, and the scan-converted image data DBn is displayed as a diagnostic image 239 on the ultrasonic diagnostic application 231 on the display unit 230 (step S3). When the operator makes a diagnosis while viewing the displayed diagnostic image 239 and determines that an image to be stored in the medical record has been acquired (step S4), the freeze button 233 displayed on the screen 231 is selected with the cursor. The diagnostic image is frozen (step S5). The identification information m corresponding to the image data DBm of the image frozen by this operation is recognized (step S6). Here, the cursor 238 is placed on the display image selected by the operator and the cursor indicated by the mouse is moved by moving the mouse while pressing the mouse switch as the operation unit 250, and is moved to the diagnostic image area in the electronic medical record application. When the mouse switch is subsequently released and a drop operation is performed (Step S7), it is detected that the mouse cursor has moved to the image display unit 236 of the electronic medical record application 235, and the storage area 244 in the electronic medical record application currently displayed is identified. Information I is recognized and sent to a control unit (not shown) (step S8). Based on the identification number m of the selected image detected in step 6, the image data DAm before scan conversion is read from the diagnostic application storage area 243, and the image data DAm is scan converted by the image processing unit 220. The scanned image data DBm is stored in the image storage area 245 of the electronic medical record application storage area 244 based on the identification information I recognized in step S8 (step S9). Thus, a file in which character information and image information are associated with the electronic medical record application is created.

  In the above embodiment, the image data before the scan conversion is stored and the image before the scan conversion is read based on the identification information selected by the freeze operation and is associated with the document information. The image data after the scan conversion may be stored and the image after the scan conversion may be read and associated with the document information by the identification information selected by the freeze operation. In this case, the image information is stored in the image information storage area 244 without going through the image processing unit 220.

  In the above embodiment, the image data before image conversion is associated with the file of the electronic medical record application as the diagnostic image information, but the association may be link information indicating the storage destination of the image information. In this case, since image link information with a small capacity is stored together with character information in the electronic medical record file, the information storage capacity managed by the electronic medical record application can be reduced.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case of a still image has been described as the image information associated with the electronic medical record. However, the image information is not limited to a still image and may be a moving image. In this case, in response to the freeze operation, a plurality of images stored in a diagnostic application storage area for forming a moving image are extracted, scan conversion is performed, and the corresponding scan-converted image data is stored in the electronic medical record application storage area 244. Are stored in the image storage area 245 in association with the document information. By associating and saving moving images in this way, it is possible to know the movement of the affected area of the subject at the time of the previous diagnosis at the time of diagnosis, so the operator can recognize changes in symptoms by comparing the two and more finely Diagnosis can be performed.

  Furthermore, the audio information obtained by the audio processing unit 218 can be stored in association with the electronic medical record information along with still images and moving images. By storing the voice, in the later diagnosis, for example, it is possible to know the symptoms of the subject that cannot be determined only by images such as cough and asthma, and a more detailed diagnosis can be performed.

  According to the present embodiment, the amount of image data transmitted from the ultrasound data collection device can be reduced by providing the image processing unit (scan converter) in the information processing device. An ultrasonic diagnostic system can be constructed in which the information processing devices are connected via a serial interface. And it becomes possible to link with the electronic medical record application on the information processing device, and the image that is judged to be pasted to the electronic medical record during the diagnosis is not stored in the dedicated diagnostic image system. At the same time of creation, it can be attached to the electronic medical record. This makes it possible to quickly create an electronic medical chart at the site of diagnosis, and it is not necessary to call an image from the server again, so that it is possible to prevent an erroneous pasting of the diagnostic image on the medical chart.

 In the above description, the ultrasonic probe is integrated with the ultrasonic data collecting apparatus. However, as shown in FIG. 5, the ultrasonic probe 120 is physically separated from the ultrasonic data information collecting apparatus 101. It is possible to carry out a similar diagnosis even in the form of In this case, the ultrasonic probe (probe) that is actually operated by the operator can be separated from the main body of the ultrasonic data collecting apparatus equipped with a signal processing unit, etc., and can be reduced in size and weight. A better and easier to use diagnostic system can be realized.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the ultrasonic diagnostic system according to the second embodiment. In the present embodiment, the only difference is that the data compression unit 216 is provided before the input of the storage unit 240 of the information processing apparatus 201 and the data decompression unit 217 is provided after the output of the storage unit 240. This is the same as the embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, image data is stored in the storage unit 240 via the data compression unit 216, and when displaying an image, the image data is sent to the image processing unit via the data decompression unit 217.

  Since electronic medical record systems handle diagnostic image data of a large number of subjects, reducing the data volume of diagnostic images is an important issue in configuring the system. The amount can be reduced, and a large number of diagnostic images can be stored even in a storage unit composed of a small-scale memory or the like. Here, the compression standard used in the data compression unit 300 may be a general-purpose data compression standard such as JPEG, and is not limited to this, and various compression standards can be used.

  Note that a data compression unit may be provided between the signal processing circuit 140 and the first transmission / reception circuit 150 of the ultrasonic data collection apparatus 100 as shown in FIG. This configuration has a feature that the amount of image data transmitted through the IF cable 190 can be further reduced.

(Third embodiment)
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an ultrasonic diagnostic system according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  FIG. 8 shows that an operator other than an expert obtains an image at a remote location, and an expert in the hospital separates the image acquisition from the diagnosis as in the case of making a diagnosis while looking at the past diagnosis result for the subject. It is a block diagram explaining the case where it cooperates in a place.

  When acquiring an image in a remote place, the operator contacts an expert in the hospital through the voice processing unit 218 and receives an instruction on a site to be acquired. The expert displays the medical chart of the subject from the storage unit 340 of the information processing apparatus 303 on the call display unit 330 and gives an instruction to the operator at a remote place through the voice processing unit 318 while viewing past diagnosis results. When a remote operator receives an instruction from an expert by the voice processing unit 218 and operates the ultrasonic probe 120 to acquire ultrasonic data, the ultrasonic wave is acquired in the same manner as the operation described in the first embodiment. A filtering process is performed by the signal processing unit 140 in the data acquisition apparatus 100 and converted into ultrasonic image data having the number of data optimized for scan conversion. The filtered ultrasonic image data is transmitted to the data transmitting / receiving unit 210 of the information processing apparatus 203 through the interface cable 190, converted into an image by the image processing unit (scan converter) 220, and displayed on the display unit 230 of the information processing apparatus. Is done. In addition, the ultrasonic image data before the scan conversion subjected to the filtering process is simultaneously installed in the hospital where the specialist is located from the communication line interface unit 215 via the network 400 using a protocol such as TCP / IP. After being transmitted to the information processing device 303 and received by the communication line interface unit 315, the image is converted by the image processing unit (scan converter) 320 and displayed on the display unit 330 of the information processing device 303. The operator and the specialist communicate with each other through the voice processing units 218 and 318 while exchanging information about the diagnosis while viewing the images displayed on the respective display devices 230 and 330. The expert makes a diagnosis while viewing the displayed diagnostic image, and gives an instruction to the operator through the voice processing unit 318. The expert uses the diagnostic image 239 displayed on the ultrasonic diagnostic application 231 on the display unit 330 as an operation unit for an image to be saved as an image after diagnosis as shown in the first embodiment. Using the drag and drop operation of the mouse 250, the chart is moved to the chart image display unit 236 of the electronic chart application 235. When the diagnostic image is displayed on the medical chart image display unit 236 of the electronic medical chart, the diagnostic image data before the scan conversion is stored in the image storage area 245 of the electronic medical chart application storage area 244 in a form corresponding to the finding document data.

  According to the present embodiment, if the image processing unit (scan converter) function is incorporated as software in a personal computer having a function of connecting to a network, an ultrasonic image displayed on the personal computer that is an information processing device and An excellent remote ultrasonic diagnostic system that can display the same real-time ultrasonic moving image on the screen of a personal computer on the hospital side and allows the operator on the subject side and the specialist on the hospital side to share diagnostic information It becomes possible to provide. In addition, diagnosis can be performed while being at a remote location, and an electronic medical record with a diagnostic image can be created at the same time.

  In the above example, the embodiment in which the information processing devices 203 and 303 do not include the data compression unit 216 and the data decompression unit 217 has been described. However, as illustrated in FIG. 216 and 316 and data decompression units 217 and 317 may be employed. In this case, the data compression and decompression shown in the second embodiment is performed at the time of saving and reading in the storage unit. Specifically, when the data transmission / reception unit 210 of the information processing apparatus 204 receives image data before scan conversion from the ultrasonic data collection apparatus 100, the data compression apparatus 216 compresses the diagnostic data and remotely transmits it through the communication line interface circuit 215. It transmits to the local information processing device 304. The communication line interface unit 315 of the information processing apparatus 304 receives the compressed image data before scan conversion, temporarily stores it in the storage unit 340, decompresses the data by the data decompression unit 317, and converts the image by the image processing unit 320. The diagnostic image is displayed on the display unit 330.

  With such a configuration, the data amount of the image to be transmitted can be further reduced, the data amount of the image to be stored can be reduced, and the diagnostic image can be stored even in a storage unit such as a small memory.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the place where the operator is present may be a moving body such as an ambulance vehicle, or may be a remote room in the hospital, not a remote place. In addition, in a hospital, the communication line (network) may be a dedicated LAN in the hospital, or even if it is directly connected one-to-one with an Ethernet (registered trademark) cross cable or the like. The effect is obtained. In addition, the image data may be relayed by a server connected to the network, and if a plurality of information processing devices are connected, a large number of specialists at remote locations can simultaneously consult. Multiple specializations can participate if the diagnosis is for complex symptoms.

  In the present embodiment, an example in which the diagnostic image is stored in the storage unit in the information processing apparatus connected to the data collection apparatus is shown. However, the image recording is not limited to the information processing apparatus and is connected to the network. Any storage unit in a general-purpose information recording device may be used. For example, a storage unit of a specific information processing device connected to a network is used as a large-capacity storage device, so that a plurality of general-purpose information can be used. An electronic medical record system including a processing device and an image server can be configured. In addition, when a specific information processing apparatus is used as a server in this way, the image information associated with the electronic medical record is not the entity information but the entity image data storage link information, thereby further reducing the storage capacity. The system can be used effectively.

  As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described by taking the ultrasonic diagnostic system as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to other medical imaging apparatuses (for example, X-ray CT apparatuses, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)). ) Applicable to devices and nuclear magnetic diagnostic devices.

  As described above, the ultrasonic diagnostic system according to the present invention is an excellent ultrasonic wave that allows an operator to attach an ultrasonic diagnostic image to a medical chart with a simple operation on a general-purpose information processing apparatus such as a personal computer. It can provide a diagnostic system, and is also useful as an intra-hospital / inter-hospital and inter-hospital network system that allows multiple specialists to diagnose at the same time.

1 is a block diagram showing an ultrasonic diagnostic system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows cooperation with the ultrasonic diagnostic system and electronic medical record which concern on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The flowchart which shows an electronic medical record and cooperation in the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the detail of the memory | storage part in the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the aspect in which the probe of an ultrasonic collector is physically separated The block diagram which shows the ultrasonic diagnostic system which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention The block diagram which shows the form which provided the data compression apparatus in the ultrasonic data collection apparatus side in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention Block diagram showing an ultrasonic diagnostic system according to a third embodiment of the present invention The block diagram which shows the ultrasonic diagnosing system provided with the compression and expansion | extension function in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention The block diagram which shows the form which connected the ultrasonic data collection device and information processing apparatus in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention through the network.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100, 101, 102 Ultrasonic data collection apparatus 110 Ultrasonic transmission part 120 Ultrasonic probe 130 Ultrasonic reception part 140 Signal processing part 150 Data transmission / reception part 151 Communication line interface part 160 Data compression part 190 IF cable 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205 Information processing device 210, 310 Data transmission / reception unit 215, 315 Communication line interface unit 216, 316 Data compression unit 217, 317 Data decompression unit 218, 318 Audio processing unit 220, 320 Image processing unit (scan converter)
230, 330 Display unit 231 Ultrasound diagnosis application 232 Diagnostic image display unit 233 Freeze operation unit 234 Measurement parameter setting unit 235 Electronic medical record application 236 Medical record image display unit 237 Medical record document display unit 238 Cursor 239 Diagnostic image 240, 340 Storage unit 243 Diagnosis Application storage area 244 Electronic medical record application storage area 245 Image storage area 246 Document storage area 250, 350 Operation unit 300, 301, 302, 303, 304 Information processing apparatus 400 Communication line (network)

Claims (5)

An ultrasonic diagnostic system that can be linked to an electronic medical record system,
The ultrasonic diagnostic system includes:
An electroacoustic transducer;
An ultrasonic transmission / reception unit that receives an ultrasonic echo transmitted from the electroacoustic transducer and reflected back in the subject by driving the electroacoustic transducer with a transmission pulse;
A signal processing unit that generates first ultrasonic image data obtained by performing signal processing on the ultrasonic echo received by the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit;
A data transmission / reception unit for transmitting the first ultrasonic image data generated by the signal processing unit to an information processing device;
An ultrasonic data collection device comprising:
A data transmission / reception unit for receiving first ultrasonic image data transmitted from the data transmission / reception unit of the ultrasonic data collection device;
A diagnostic application storage unit that associates and stores the first ultrasound image data received by the data transmission / reception unit;
An image processing unit that converts the number of scanning lines with respect to the first ultrasonic image data stored in the diagnostic application storage unit and generates second ultrasonic image data;
A display unit for displaying the second ultrasonic image data as an ultrasonic image;
An operation unit that freezes the ultrasonic image displayed on the display unit and instructs the storage of the frozen ultrasonic image;
An electronic medical record application storage unit that associates and stores an ultrasonic image instructed to be stored by the operation unit;
An information processing apparatus having
Ultrasound diagnostic system with The information processing apparatus includes a data compression unit that compresses the first ultrasonic image data;
A data decompression unit for decompressing the compressed first ultrasonic image data;
The ultrasonic diagnostic system according to claim 1 , comprising: The information processing apparatus includes a communication line interface unit that transmits and receives the first ultrasonic image data through a network;
The ultrasonic diagnostic system according to claim 1, further comprising: The ultrasonic diagnostic system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the ultrasonic data collection device is configured to be divided into a housing of an electroacoustic transducer and a housing of an image generation unit and a data transmission / reception unit. The ultrasonic diagnostic system according to any one of claims 1 to 4 first transmission and reception of ultrasonic image data of the ultrasound information device and the information processing apparatus is performed via a network.

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