JPH06339467A - Medical image observing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a medical image observing device which is capable of correctly selecting images and variably selecting the areas of the images displayed. CONSTITUTION:A plurality of medical images are displayed in parallel in a navigation monitor 11. A physician and operator sets selection areas R1-R5 using a mouse while looking at the images displayed in parallel in the navigation monitor 11. The selection areas R1-R5 can be set to variable size. The images within the set selection images R1-R5 are displayed in observation monitors 151-155 after being converted to sizes that can be displayed in the observation monitors 151-155. The images can be displayed in the observation monitors 151-155 in either standard, multiple or enlargement mode depending on the way the selection areas R1-R5 are set.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention comprehensively manages various medical images obtained by a magnetic resonance tomography apparatus (MRI apparatus), an X-ray CT apparatus, an emission CT apparatus (ECT apparatus), etc. The present invention relates to a medical image observation device for displaying on a monitor for diagnosis and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, MRI apparatus, X-ray CT apparatus, EC
The digitized medical image obtained by the T-device is
The images displayed on the monitors attached to the respective devices, and observations for diagnosis are performed for each device by the images displayed on the monitors. Further, when comprehensively observing medical images obtained by each device, each medical image is once printed on a film because the devices are dispersed and arranged in a medical facility. It is generally used and observed.

However, it is inefficient to print a medical image obtained by various medical devices on a film once.

Therefore, conventionally, a system has been developed in which medical images obtained by various medical devices are centrally managed and displayed on a monitor. This will be described with reference to FIG.
The medical image observing apparatus 1 and the various medical apparatuses 2 are connected by, for example, a communication cable or the like, and the digitalized medical images obtained by the various medical apparatuses 2 are taken into the medical image observing apparatus 1 and magnetically Store on disk 3. At the time of diagnosis, the doctor who is the operator instructs the subject to be diagnosed from the instruction device (for example, keyboard) 4, and the CPU 5 obtains the instructed subject by photographing. The medical image is read from the magnetic disk 3 to the image memory 6, and the read medical image list is displayed on the operation monitor 7 as a menu screen as shown in FIG. When the doctor selects the image he wants to observe from the menu screen,
The selected image is displayed on the monitor 9 by the image processor 8.
Is stored in the display memory 10 after being adjusted to a size that can be displayed. Then, as shown in FIG. 17, the display memory 1
The image G stored in 0 is displayed on the monitor 9. The doctor observes the image displayed on the monitor 9 and selects another image from the menu screen as necessary to switch the displayed image to make a diagnosis.

[0005]

However, the conventional example having such a structure has the following problems. That is, the menu screen displayed on the monitor 7 is a list display in characters as shown in FIG. 16, and when the doctor selects a desired image from the contents of the list, one pair of the contents of the list and the image is displayed. Since it is difficult to recognize in correspondence with 1, there is a problem that the selection operation cannot be performed accurately.

Further, the images displayed on the monitor 9 are always the same size, and for example, it is not possible to enlarge and display a specific portion in the image, which is inconvenient for diagnosis.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and enables accurate selection of images, and
An object of the present invention is to provide a medical image observation apparatus capable of variably selecting an area of an image to be displayed.

[0008]

The present invention has the following constitution in order to achieve such an object. That is, the present invention is directed to a medical image observation apparatus that comprehensively manages and displays on a monitor medical images obtained from various medical apparatuses, a navigation monitor that displays a selection image, and an observation image that displays an observation image. A monitor, a selection image display control means for controlling to display a plurality of medical images in parallel on the navigation monitor, and a medical image displayed in parallel on the navigation monitor by the selection image display control means. To the observation monitor for displaying the image in the selection area indicated by the instruction means on the observation monitor according to the size of the selection area. And display control means.

[0009]

The operation of the present invention is as follows. The selection image display control means controls to display a plurality of medical images in parallel on the navigation monitor. A doctor who is an operator designates a variable-sized selection area while viewing the medical images displayed in parallel on the navigation monitor by the instruction means. The observation image display control means converts the size of the selection area instructed by the instruction means into a size that can be displayed on the observation monitor, and controls the image in the selection area to be displayed on the observation monitor.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an external appearance of a medical image observation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing its internal configuration. Note that the portions denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 15 have the same configuration as the conventional example, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted here.

The apparatus 20 is roughly divided into a processing unit 2
1, navigation monitor 11, observation monitor 15 (1
5 _{1-15 5),} a mouse 12, a keyboard (K / B) 1
3 and 3.

The structure of each part will be described below in accordance with the image selection display procedure. Digitized medical images obtained by various medical devices 2 are captured and stored in the magnetic disk 3. The medium for storing each medical image is not limited to the magnetic disk 3, and a medium that can store a large amount of image data and can be accessed at high speed is, for example,
It may be a magneto-optical disk device or the like.

A doctor who is an operator first selects a subject to be diagnosed. As shown in FIG. 3A, the selection of the subject is performed by the menu bar 11 a of the navigation monitor 11.
“Selection of subject” is selected by the pointing device such as the mouse 12 (indicated by the arrow YR), and the pull-down menu 11b is displayed as shown in FIG. 3B. Then, from the keyboard (K / B) 13, for example, the I
The subject to be diagnosed is selected by the D number.

Each medical image stored in the magnetic disk 3 is provided with an ID number of the subject, a medical device type, a photographing date, etc. as index information. CPU
The (central processing unit) 14 reads an image obtained by photographing the subject with the ID number of the subject selected in the above process as a key. Then, the read-out images are two-dimensionally arranged and stored in the image memory 6 as shown in FIG. Reference numerals GM ₁ and GM ₂ indicate images obtained by the MRI apparatus, reference numerals GX _{1 to} GX ₁₆ indicate images obtained by the X-ray CT apparatus, and reference numerals GE ₁ to GE ₁
GE ₁₆ shows images obtained by the ECT apparatus, respectively.

The image processor 8 adjusts each image stored in the image memory 6 to a size that can be displayed on the navigation monitor 11 and stores it in the navigation display memory 16, and stores the data stored in the navigation display memory 16. , And is displayed on the navigation monitor 11, as shown in FIG.

For example, the size of the image memory 6 is Ya (for example, 8000 pixels) × Xa (for example, 8000 pixels).
(See FIG. 4), the display size of the navigation monitor 11 is Yn (for example, 380 pixels) × Xn (for example, 62 pixels).
0 pixels) (see FIG. 5), the image memory 6 is set to Y
When the size is reduced by n / Ya or Xn / Xa, the size is reduced horizontally. Therefore, in this embodiment, the image memory 6
The whole is reduced by the conversion ratio of Xn / Xa, and the portion which cannot be displayed in the vertical direction of the navigation monitor 11 is displayed by scrolling the scroll bar 11d of the navigation monitor 11 with the mouse 12.
The screen is configured to be scrolled and displayed by instructing with. The display size of the navigation monitor 11 is, for example, 1024 pixels × 10.
If the image memory 6 has a square shape like 24 pixels and the size of the image memory 6 is 8000 pixels × 800 pixels, if the entire image memory 6 is reduced at a conversion ratio of 1000/8000, the entire contents of the image memory 6 will be displayed on the navigation monitor. 1
1 will be displayed. Therefore, at this time, the scroll bar 11d is not particularly necessary.

The doctor selects an area (selection area) to be displayed on the observation monitor 15 while looking at the images displayed in parallel on the navigation monitor 11. To select the selection area, first, as shown in FIG. 6A, select "selection area" on the menu bar 11a of the navigation monitor 11 with the mouse 12, and then pull down the menu 11c as shown in FIG. 6B. Is displayed. Then, the "single" display or the "divided" display is selected with the mouse 12. here,
The "single" display is selected and the "divided" display will be described later. Next, the observation monitor 15 ₁ ~15 _5, K / B
At 13, for example, a monitor number is used for selection. The observation monitors 151 to 155 correspond to the monitor numbers ₁ to ₅ , respectively. Further, in this embodiment, five observation monitors 15 are connected, but any number of monitors may be connected. However, when only one observation monitor 15 is connected, the above monitor selection process is unnecessary.

When the selection of the observation monitor 15 is completed, as shown in FIG. 7, the mouse 12 selects the selection region R ₁ for the image displayed on the navigation monitor 11. This selection is performed, for example, by designating the two vertices P ₁ and P ₂ on the diagonal forming the selection region R ₁ with the mouse 12. When the selection area R ₁ is selected, the image processor 8
Converts the size of the image in the selected area R ₁ according to the display size of the selected observation monitor 15 (for example, 15 ₁ ), stores it in the display memory 17 of the observation monitor 15, and 8, it is displayed on the observation monitor 15 ₁ . The area surrounded by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 8 indicates the area that can be displayed on the observation monitor 15.

A method of converting the image in the selected area R ₁ into the display size of the observation monitor 15 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. When the selection area R ₁ is selected,
Identify areas R ₁ 'in the image memory 6 corresponding to the region R ₁ (see FIG. 9). The size of this region R ₁ 'is Y
r (for example, 200 pixels) × Xr (for example, 200 pixels), while the display size Yk of the observation monitor 15 is Yk.
(Eg 400 pixels) × Xk (eg 640 pixels)
Suppose In this case, Yk / Yr or Xk / Xr
With the conversion magnification of, the observation monitor 15 is reduced or enlarged so as to be fully displayed in the vertical direction or the horizontal direction. For example, Yr has 200 pixels, Xr has 200 pixels, and Yk has 4 pixels.
Observation monitor 15 when 00 pixels and Xk is 640 pixels
In order to display the entire area R ₁ ′ in the vertical direction, the entire area R ₁ ′ is enlarged at a conversion magnification of Yk / Yr (400/200 = 2 times) and displayed on the observation monitor 15 (see FIG. 8). The area surrounded by the dotted line in FIG. 8 corresponds to the selection area R ₁ . Further, for example, as shown in FIG. 10A, when the selection region R is selected as a horizontally long region, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 10, the size is converted so that it can be fully displayed in the vertical direction of the observation monitor 15, and as shown in FIG. 10C, when the selection region R is selected as a vertically long region, As shown in 10 (d), the size is converted so that the observation monitor 15 can be fully displayed in the vertical direction.

Thereafter, if necessary, the observation monitor 15 ₂
The selection region R ₂ to R ₅ to be displayed on the 15 _5, selected in the same procedure as described above.

[0021] shows all the state in which the selection region R ₁ to R ₅ is selected for the observation monitor 15 _{1-15 5} Figure 11. As shown, the selection of the method of selecting regions R ₁ to R _5, for example, the observation monitor 15 _1, as in the conventional example can display images of standard size, the viewing monitor the 15 _2, can be displayed by enlarging the specific site of one image, further, the observation monitor 15 _3, 15 _4, 15 _5, it is possible to display a plurality of images in the multi. As described above, the standard size display, the multi-display, the enlarged display, and the like can be selected depending on how the selection area is selected, so that the doctor can observe the displayed image and make an accurate diagnosis. Further, by connecting a plurality of observation monitors 15, it is possible to make a diagnosis while comparing a plurality of observation images, which is convenient for the diagnosis. Further, since the observation image can be selected while viewing the images displayed in parallel on the navigation monitor 11, the image can be accurately selected.

Next, the above-mentioned "division" display will be described. As shown in FIG. 12, the pull-down menu 11 displayed by selecting the "selection area" of the menu bar 11a.
In "c", the "division" display is selected and the observation monitor 15 is selected.

Then, as shown in FIG. 13, a plurality of (three in the figure) selection regions R _{11 to} R ₁₃ are selected with the mouse 12 for the image displayed on the navigation monitor 11. When the selection areas R _{11 to} R ₁₃ are selected, the image processor 7 determines the size of the image in the selection areas R _{11 to} R ₁₃ by the divided display size of the selected observation monitor 15 (for example, 15 ₁ ). (e.g., 4-split display size) was converted according to, and stored in the display memory 17 of the observation monitor 15, as shown in FIG. 14, is displayed on the observation monitor 15 _1. Since the images can be divided and displayed in this manner, a plurality of images can be compared and observed, which is convenient for diagnosis.

[0024]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a plurality of medical images are displayed in parallel on the navigation monitor, and a selection area to be displayed on the observation monitor is selected for the images. With this configuration, the doctor who is the operator can select an area (image) to be displayed on the observation monitor while viewing the image, and thus can select the image accurately. Further, the selection area can be designated with a variable size, and the image is displayed on the observation monitor in accordance with the designated size of the selection area, so that the image can be enlarged or multi-displayed on the observation monitor. Etc. can be performed, and the doctor can accurately make a diagnosis.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an appearance of a medical image observation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a procedure of selecting a subject.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which images are arranged in an image memory.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which images are displayed in parallel on a navigation monitor.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a procedure of selecting a selection area.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a selected state of a selected area.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state in which an image in a selected area is displayed on an observation monitor.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a method of converting an image in a selected area into a size that can be displayed on an observation monitor.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a method of converting an image in a selected area into a size that can be displayed on an observation monitor.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a state in which a selected image is displayed on all observation monitors.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a procedure of split display.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a procedure of split display.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a state in which an image is divided and displayed on an observation monitor.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a medical image observation apparatus according to a conventional example.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a menu screen of a conventional example.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a state in which an image is displayed on the monitor.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... medical device 3 ... magnetic disk 6 ... image memory 8 ... image processor 11 ... navigation monitor 12 ... mouse 14 ... CPU (central processing unit) 15 (15 ₁ to 15 ₅₎ ... observation monitor 16 ... navigation display memory 17 ... observation display memory 21 ... processor _{GM 1, GM 2, GX 1} ~GX 16, GE 1 ~GE 16 ...
Image R (R _{1 to} R ₅ ) ... Selection area

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A navigation monitor for displaying a selection image in a medical image observation device for comprehensively managing and displaying on a monitor medical images obtained from various medical devices,
An observation monitor for displaying an observation image, a selection image display control unit for controlling a plurality of medical images to be displayed in parallel on the navigation monitor, and a navigation monitor by the selection image display control unit. Instructing means capable of instructing a selection area of variable size for medical images displayed in parallel, and displaying an image in the selection area instructed by the instructing means on the observation monitor according to the size of the selection area A medical image observation apparatus, comprising: an observation image display control means for controlling so that