Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
  • H04N1/04—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa
  • H04N1/19—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa using multi-element arrays
  • H04N1/195—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa using multi-element arrays the array comprising a two-dimensional array or a combination of two-dimensional arrays
  • H04N1/19594—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa using multi-element arrays the array comprising a two-dimensional array or a combination of two-dimensional arrays using a television camera or a still video camera
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
  • H04N1/04—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa
  • H04N1/19—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa using multi-element arrays
  • H04N1/195—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa using multi-element arrays the array comprising a two-dimensional array or a combination of two-dimensional arrays
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
  • H04N1/21—Intermediate information storage
  • H04N1/2166—Intermediate information storage for mass storage, e.g. in document filing systems
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N2201/00—Indexing scheme relating to scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, and to details thereof
  • H04N2201/04—Scanning arrangements
  • H04N2201/0402—Arrangements not specific to a particular one of the scanning methods covered by groups H04N1/04 - H04N1/207
  • H04N2201/0404—Scanning transparent media, e.g. photographic film
  • H04N2201/0412—Scanning X-ray films
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N2201/00—Indexing scheme relating to scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, and to details thereof
  • H04N2201/04—Scanning arrangements
  • H04N2201/0402—Arrangements not specific to a particular one of the scanning methods covered by groups H04N1/04 - H04N1/207
  • H04N2201/0438—Scanning displays; Scanning large surfaces, e.g. projection screens, writing boards

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a system and a method, respectively, for transfer of medical films, particularly X-ray films or parts thereof, for diagnostics to digital, electronic form and for filing of these digital, electronic images.
• a comparison between so-called old images from previous examinations and new images from a present examination is carried out either by hanging and examining existing films in front of a light surface, e.g. in a light cabinet, or by examining computerized, so-called digitized images on a computer screen.
• the diagnosis is rendered difficult to a varying extent if the compari- son is not performed between old and new images at similar conditions and with the same tecnique, i.e. in a light cabinet or on a screen.
• An important diagnostic operation routine is the so-called round system, which in principle comprises a consultation between clinics with different specialist competence, including diagnosticians, mainly within X- ray, ultrasonic sound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) .
• the respective clinics are going through the basis for all or selected examinations together with the diagnostician reporting on the case before determining the patient diagnosis that is at hand.
• the number of participants of the round varies from a few to about twenty. The number of rounds tends to increase but with fewer participants, principally dependent on the possibility of a greater flexibility at the presentation on digital screens within the diag- nostic unit.
• old films are transferred to digital, electronic form by so-called scanning.
• the films are then placed into a scanner, which is a closed unit, for reading and transfer, such as a data file, to a digital archive, e.g. in a PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) , which is a complete digital information system comprising a digital image archive with a network for image transfer between screens both within a diagnostic unit and between different diagnostic units.
• a scanner which is a closed unit, for reading and transfer, such as a data file
• a digital archive e.g. in a PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System)
• PACS Picture Archiving and Communications System
• the transfer of film to digital image archives by scanning of film and other documentation of patient examinations involves a severely increased work effort and administration within the diagnostic unit, even if this is made selectively and may be limited to arising demands.
• diagnostic units which during transition to digital technique, determine not to archive or store film, have to transfer all film by scanning.
• To transfer a conventional film archive in its entirety must be considered as a very comprehensive work effort and may hardly be motivated, since the comparison between old and new images usually needs to be performed when it has been found necessary.
• the film archives usually comprise a large number of films depending on the request prescribed by law to archive 10 years of film production on a running basis. In a regional/university hospital the film archive comprises about 10 million films, in a general hospital about 4 to 5 million films and in a smaller hospital about 1.5 to 1.8 million films spread over a ten years period.
• the reading time for each scanned film is about a minute.
• the complete process including taking out or transfer patent documentation takes 15 to 20 minutes for each patient and examination.
• To transfer the film archive in this manner to a digital archive requires an almost unreasonable and costly work effort corresponding to about 1500 man years for each regional hospital, about 600 man years for each central hospital and about 200 man years for each smaller hospital .
• the film is moved from the film archive or the light cabinet for being put into the scanner there is a certain risk for the film being by mistake turned in the wrong way. The risk is particularly great when the work is carried out by less qualified personnel.
• a patha- logically interesting area is considered to have n pixels in x and y dimensions without any magnification. At 2 times magnification the number of pixels will be halved to the number of n/2, i.e. the resolution of the image will be deteriorated with 50%. It is also possible to describe the technique in such a way that the pixels are magnified proportionally to the object magnification.
• An alternative in this respect is to use scanners having very high resolution. They are, however, very expensive and further they involve a heavily increased need of storing capacity in the image archive and a heavily increased time consumption for the image transfer. A doubling of the resolution of the scanner will e.g. give a quadrupling of the storage need for the image in the archive and of an image transfer time. A conventional scanning will not, for practical reasons as regards time and resources, admit that appropriate films and parts thereof are selected for internal con- sultation during a round in order later to be used for determining the clinic diagnosis.
• a conventional scanning does not allow that photographic images of diagnostic interest, e.g. images of patients having so-called scolios backs, are transferred as a supplementary aid to the rest of the image basis of the patient.
• This and other objects are according to one aspect of the invention attained by a system for transfer of medical images as defined in claim 1.
• a system for image archiving and communication particularly a system of the PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) type as defined in claim 13.
• PACS Picture Archiving and Communications System
• Is is a further object of the invention to provide a method for said type of image transfer.
• This object is according to a third aspect of the pre- sent invention attained by a method for transfer of medical images as definied in claim 14.
• An advantage of the present invention is that it provides for flexible, fast, accurate and simple image transfer, which makes it ideal with teleradiologi .
• a major advantage of the invention compared with conventional scanners, is that the image for digitalization may be looked at and judged and, if required, adapted before the digitalization is performed and thus not afterwards .
• a further advantage of the invention is that a selective partial enlargement of pathologically interesting areas is made possible, whereby parts only of some images have to be transferred, which involves a considerably saving as regards partly transfer time, partly storing space in the digital, electronic archive in comparison with use of a conventional scanner having an extremely high image resolution.
• image transfer may be performed in connection with an X-ray round or prediagnostics, wherein pathologically interesting objects may optionally be magnified and transferred to a digital, electronic archive.
• a particular advantage of the invention is that it hereby lifts the transfer process up to an appropriate level as the method motivates persons having diagnostic competence to optimize the basis for diagnostic consultation and final opinion. The risk for turning the film upside-down in a scanner is reduced.
• Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a system for transfer of medical images according to the present invention.
• images and film respectively, in this description principally refer to developed X-ray film but any other kind of image or film for medical application shall be included in these terms.
• a system 1 for transfer of medicinal images, particularly X-ray images, according to the present invention comprises a highly resolving digital camera 11 of the CCD type with a lens 13 mounted at a positioning system 15.
• the camera can be of conventional kind, which is available on the commercial market and may typically comprise about 1000-2000 x
• the lens is preferably comprised of an objective with a magnification function, i.e. a zoom objective, and a positioning system 15 is preferably comprised of a vertical pole 15a, a coordinate slider 15b and a list 15c.
• the digital camera is arranged such that it may at least be movable in a plane parallel to the plane, in which the medical images 17 to be transferred are arranged.
• the medical images 17 to be transferred are arranged on a vertical light surface 19 in e.g. a light cabinet 21 as illustrated in Fig. 1, but they may alternatively be arranged directly at a wall or other substantially plane surface (not shown) .
• the camera which in Fig. 1 is movable in a vertical direction through movement along the vertical pole 15a and laterally through movement of the coordinate slider 15b along the list 15c, may, however, also be movable in a third di- rection, at right angles to the above-mentioned directions .
• the digital camera 11 is connected to a computer 23, integrated in the system 1, with a screen 25, via an input/output 27 arranged at the camera, which computer is in turn connected to a digital electronic image archive (not shown in Fig. 1) through a cable 29.
• the digital camera 11 may be directly connected to a computer in a digital information system of a diagnostic unit on the assumption that the necessary technical adaption is performed.
• the system 1 is arranged in such a way that the trans- fer may comprise the following points :
• the actual resolution which may be achieved and by which images may be transferred, is equal to the resolution of the original images (which is in the same order of magnitude as the grain size of the chemically developed film) .
• Exposure of images, or parts thereof. In this respect occurring films may be imaged with any resolution within the range of the performance of the system and the resolution of the original images .
• Transfer of any images to the digital electronic image archive is preferably comprised of a system of the PACS type, which is an integrated network-based system for medical information.
• the transfer may comprise communication with a patient information system RIS (Radiological Information System) included in the PACS for input of patient data and other data and conversion of the images to a suit- able format for the PACS.
• RIS Radiological Information System
• One of the advantages of using a computer for image transfer is, as mentioned, that the operator, during positioning of the camera and choice of partial enlar- gement, may, except of using the finder of the camera, examine images on the screen of the computer before the digitalization of the image.
• the operator is preferably a clinically qualified person with knowledge about diagnostic discrimination.
• the invention motivates persons with diagnostic knowledge to perform the transfer process simultaneously with the optimization of the basis for diagnostic consultation and final statement.
• Another advantage is that the screen of the computer or, when necessary, a secondary device and, for the purpose, a more highly resolving screen may be used for the image exposure and thereby the risk for motion blurr will be reduced, which may arise at heavy image magnification and incautious contact with the camera during exposure .
• the system may be arranged for manual and preferably motorized (not shown) movement of the digital camera in the horizontal and vertical directions.
• the camera may in this respect be arranged for scanning of a film examination surface, particularly in a light cabinet.
• the video output of the camera may be used for image presentation during the round routine consultation for diagnostics and in such a case either via the computer, which is connected to the digital camera, or via exter- nal screens included in the digital image system of the unit .
• the system for image transfer of film to the digitial system of the diagnostic unit may further present occurring films with elucidating magnification at team work for diagnostic consultations.
• a drawback of the image transfer is the risk for introduction of undesired and unintended motion unsharpness, which may make a planned and expected result of an approaching diagnosis for the patient difficult and even impossible.
• the risk for motion unsharpness to arise using the present invention is considerably higher than using a conventional scanner, which consists of a closed system where neither the camera nor the film may be affected by external contact.
• the image deterioration due to motion unsharpness will increase with increased magnification of the object.
• There are mainly two types of motion unsharpness namely a moderate decaying motion (e.g. after a hit) and a constant motion (e.g. a perma- nent vibration caused by an electrical apparatus) .
• the motion unsharpness may, according to the present invention, be carried out through active, dynamic image analysis of the camera image in one or two steps. By e.g. measuring the position, i.e. the coordinates for a selected detail on the film at two different occasions, a motion may be detected.
• the motion unsharpness is determined depending on the fact that temporal image position variations for a predetermined detail of a medical film are detected.
• the motion unsharpness is determined depending on the fact that the temporal intensity variations in a simple image element are detected.
• the allowed value of the motion may either be chosen according to a predetermined value or be given by the user from case to case .
• Step 1 implies that the exposure of the image is prevented (e.g. the exposure mechanism is locked) when the allowed value of the motion unsharpness is exceeded before exposure.
• Step 2 implies that the image transfer is stopped (i.e. an exposed image is directly rejected) , when the allowed value of the motion unsharpness is exceeded for an exposed image.
• the prevented or stopped image transfer may either be absolute or be a temporary obstacle in the form of an option that the image does not comply with the demands put on the resolution but may anyhow be exposed and/or transferred to the digital archive if the user accepts this deviation.
• the motion unsharpness caused by permanent vibration with constant amplitude may be compensated by making an average image of more picture fields with digital image analysis .
• supervision and measure in respect of motion unsharpness are based on comparison of the coordinates of the image matrix at two different occasions, e.g. before and after the exposure of the image.
• this light regulation shall be made using a conven- tional scanner, it may at first be performed after judgement of the already digitized film, whereby the complete process may be repeated again when necessary.
• the invention makes possible choice of a so-called dynamic contrast optimization, i.e. the contrast ranges of the image is utilized over the entire grey scale or a manually chosen contrast level.
• the camera may also be provided with a diaphragm, which automatically chooses the aperture depending on the dynamic range of the film.
• any images, particularly magnifications with improved resolution of pathologically interesting parts, and flexible image transfers to the digital system of the diagnostic unit for image processing and archiving may be performed using a film of already made patient examinations.
• film examination with magnification/digitalization/reading/storing in connection with the round routine pathologically interesting objects may optionally be magnified for simultaneous consultation and transfer to a digital image archive .
• Partial magnification of pathologically interesting objects is an enormous advantage in comparison with conventional scanning with limited resolution and a considerable saving of image storage and transfer time in comparison with using a conventional scanner with extremely high image resolution.
• an unnecessary large image surface will then be stored with unused image resolution and will have a correspondingly larger storage space in the digital archives at its disposal in comparison with the invention.
• the transfer system according to the present invention is flexible, fast, accurate and simple to use, which results in an ideal system for teleradiology over network.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Measuring And Recording Apparatus For Diagnosis (AREA)
• Apparatus For Radiation Diagnosis (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

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ID=20413345

Family Applications (1)

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• 1998
  • 1998-11-19 SE SE9803964A patent/SE9803964L/sv not_active Application Discontinuation
• 1999
  • 1999-11-18 WO PCT/SE1999/002117 patent/WO2000031976A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1999-11-18 EP EP99962623A patent/EP1138158A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1999-11-18 AU AU19029/00A patent/AU1902900A/en not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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