JP2002063280A - Medical information system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a doctor in attendance to promptly and exactly diagnose a case the judgment of which is hard to make and to enable a patient to prevent duplication of useless inspections regarding a medical information system to support diagnostic imaging including interpretation of the radiogram of the image information of affected parts. SOLUTION: Diagnosis is supported by registering the image information of affected parts obtained by an image pickup means in a case data base and retrieving the desired pieces of case information such as similar cases registered in the case data base and past information of the patient.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a medical information system which utilizes a computer network to support image diagnosis including interpretation of image information of an affected part mainly by a private medical doctor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-70390, for example, there has been proposed a system that utilizes a hospital LAN and manages medical record information for each patient by computer. This is intended to continuously grasp the state of the patient accompanying the movement of the place of medical treatment. By unifying one patient's information from hospitalization to discharge, prevention of erroneous treatment instructions and reduction of documents are achieved. I have. On the other hand, in dentistry, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-34963, an intraoral image, X-ray image information, and the like are converted into digital data, which is called or stored in the vicinity of each dental medical chair by a remote control switch operated at hand. Have been put to practical use. As an example of remote image diagnosis, there has been proposed a system for requesting image interpretation by an image transfer device from a clinic in a remote island or a remote place (for example, Fukuhisa Kato: "Image communication based on standard standards") future,
Dental Perspective / Forefront of Dental Image Diagnosis: Medical and Dental Medicine Publishing: 9
1-98, 1997).

[0003]

However, the conventional information management system is completed only in a specific hospital or dental clinic, and all the judgments on the information obtained by the diagnostic equipment are made by the on-site doctor. Has been entrusted to. When the doctor in charge encounters a case where he or she is confused, it has been difficult to take prompt and accurate responses. In the case of a system for remotely transmitting an affected part image and requesting interpretation, a 1: 1 order between an orderer (medical site) and a contractor (interpretation specialist).
And the interpretation result is only unilaterally (only once) suggested. In other words, it is only one radiology specialist who can accumulate knowledge by reusing the diseased part image taken up by the information center, and interactive information between the field doctor and the radiology specialist or other medical field doctors Provision / collection activities are not allowed. In particular, in the case of an individual medical practitioner, the cases encountered by individual findings are limited, and it has been difficult to improve diagnostic techniques related to interpretation of X-ray images, ultrasonic images, and the like only by daily medical practice. Also, for patients themselves, when they have to change their outpatient medical institution or physician due to reasons such as transfer from home or transfer, they can be re-examined from the beginning to increase medical expenditures and reduce the amount of X-ray exposure. This has had an adverse effect on the human body, such as an increase. Furthermore, since the medical record information is not always freely accessible to the patient himself, there is a problem that a satisfactory diagnosis and treatment cannot always be received. In addition, regarding long-term storage of diseased part image information in private practice clinics, there are issues in terms of securing storage places, safety, reliability, and ease of searching, and there were also issues that required enormous costs to realize these . Even if a system that digitizes and accumulates patient data and builds a computer search system in one clinic only within a single clinic, repeated computer and storage medium platform changes, model changes, media obsolescence makes it difficult to obtain, and data organization / backup. For example, there was a problem that it was not possible to cope with the complexity of maintenance work.

[0004] The present invention solves the above problems,
It is a first object of the present invention to be able to quickly and accurately make a diagnosis even when a doctor in charge is confused in image diagnosis or the like, and to prevent unnecessary examination duplication for a patient. It is a second object of the present invention that the doctors in charge mutually utilize the affected part image information to improve the diagnostic technique. In addition, when centralized management of diseased part image information, it is necessary to add more accurate and objective diagnostic findings, and to search for the contents described in the added findings by keyword to easily retrieve and compare similar cases. This is the purpose of 3. A fourth feature is to extract a specific pattern characterizing the affected part image information from the image itself, and to search for a similar case even if the same keyword is not described in the finding information temporarily attached, that is, the finding information attached to the image itself. Aim. A fifth object is to be able to search based on finding information added by a doctor in charge or a specialist. Also, if necessary, search conditions can be changed freely, such as searching for similar cases, follow-up observation of the patient, and searching for information accumulated in the past, such as their relatives, as needed by the attending physician. The sixth object is to easily realize the above. It is a seventh object of the present invention to cope with a shortage of a storage location of patient data at a medical site, a long-term storage security of accumulated case data, or to be able to easily and easily retrieve the case data. An eighth object is that only a registered regular doctor can use the medical information center from the viewpoint of operating the medical information center while maintaining the quality of the case database. Protecting the privacy of patients and saying, "When, who, what kind of diagnosis, treatment, and how often and in what process. How many medical clinics apply and apply at each clinic? What is the management situation of each medical practitioner?
The ninth object is that the part directly connected to the management know-how is kept secret and used only for the original purpose of mutual case study / diagnosis support. A tenth object is to allow a patient to freely browse his / her own diagnostic information and image information at any time while ensuring privacy.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a first medical information system of the present invention registers diseased part image information obtained by an imaging means in a case database, or stores the information in the case database. This is a membership-based medical information system that supports diagnosis by searching for desired stored case information such as registered similar cases and past information of the patient.

[0006] The second medical information system of the present invention comprises:
When the attending physician registers the affected part image information in the case database, the primary finding information is added.

[0007] A third medical information system of the present invention comprises:
The second finding information is added to the image information registered in the case database by a specialist different from the doctor in charge.

[0008] The fourth medical information system of the present invention comprises:
A feature extraction unit for performing classification according to a specific pattern of image content is connected to the case database.

A fifth medical information system according to the present invention comprises:
The feature extracting means associates the specific pattern with the keyword contained in the primary finding information or the secondary finding information and the specific pattern of the image content.

[0010] The sixth medical information system of the present invention comprises:
A stored case search means is connected to the case database, and specific selection information is output from the case database according to a search condition requested by a doctor in charge at a medical site.

The seventh medical information system according to the present invention is provided with imaging information receiving means for receiving diseased part image information transmitted from a doctor in charge or search condition receiving means for receiving search conditions. The receiving means or the search condition receiving means has a function of detecting or correcting an error in the received information.

An eighth medical information system according to the present invention comprises:
The imaging information receiving means or the search condition receiving means has an authentication function for authenticating that the access is from a registered doctor in advance.

Further, the ninth medical information system of the present invention is provided with a stored case transmitting means for attaching the case database and finding information corresponding to the affected part image information requested to be searched by the doctor in charge of the medical site and transmitting the attached case information. The stored case transmitting means changes the finding information to be attached depending on whether the image information is a request from the registered doctor himself or a request from another doctor among registered doctors in advance.

In a tenth medical information system of the present invention, a patient browsing means for providing the affected part image information or finding information to a case database in response to a browsing request from the patient is connected to the case database. It has an authentication function for authenticating that the access is from a registered patient.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the first medical information system of the present invention, each doctor in charge is registered with similar cases or patients who are registered in an enormous case database collected at a medical information center for image diagnosis and the like. Can be used by calling up and using past data and the like, so that a quick and accurate diagnosis can be made. Also, there is no need to worry about storing the affected part image information, and it is possible to easily reuse it at any time simply by registering it in the case database. By sharing the diseased part image information for the patient, the past patient information can be taken over as it is when the destination is changed, so that unnecessary duplication of examinations can be prevented.
This directly leads to a reduction in the expenditure on medical expenses for the patient himself and the reduction of adverse effects on the human body, such as exposure to X-rays, and also leads to a reduction in the total medical expenditure of the whole country. As the number of users (the number of doctors who become members) increases the quality and quantity of the case database for medical information centers, high value-added services can be realized as a core organization for improving diagnostic imaging technology.

According to the second medical information system of the present invention, the doctor in charge adds primary finding information to the affected part image information,
By viewing the image information to which this primary finding information is attached by other doctors, there is a dramatic opportunity for each doctor to mutually improve diagnostic techniques such as “what can be read from this image information”. To increase.

Further, according to the third medical information system of the present invention, since secondary finding information by a specialist other than the doctor in charge at the medical site is added, the medical information system is consistently independent of the specialty of the doctor in charge. The diseased part image information is managed, and a more accurate and objective diagnosis can be performed.

Further, the fourth medical information system of the present invention comprises:
Since the case database is connected to a feature extraction unit that performs classification according to the specific pattern of the image content, even if the same keyword is not stored in the attached finding information,
It becomes easy to search for similar cases. Even for contents that could not be understood only at the medical site (the doctor in charge), important suggestions regarding diagnosis may be given by performing effective image processing on the original image by the feature extraction unit.

Further, the fifth medical information system of the present invention comprises:
Since the feature extracting means associates the specific pattern by the correlation between the keyword included in the primary finding information or the secondary finding information and the specific pattern of the image content, how the specific pattern characterizing the affected part image information is determined It is possible to give meaning to the finding information and the keywords included in the finding information. In addition, since findings from a specialist other than the in-charge doctor who is in direct contact with the patient and having an excellent ability to diagnose the affected part can be obtained, highly objective diagnosis can be performed.

Further, the sixth medical information system of the present invention comprises:
The search conditions can be freely changed according to the needs of the attending physician, so that diagnosis from multiple angles can be easily realized, such as searching for similar cases and searching for information accumulated in the past such as the patient and its relatives. .

A seventh medical information system according to the present invention comprises:
Since the imaging information receiving means or the search condition receiving means has a reception information error detection or correction function, long-term storage safety can be ensured even if the patient data is deposited at a medical information center through a network line, or the subject information can be easily and easily stored. Recall case data. That is, the medical information center is not only a diagnosis support system but also a patient data storage shared by each member, and is operated as a mutual aid association organization.

An eighth medical information system according to the present invention comprises:
Since it has an authentication function for authenticating access from a doctor in charge registered in advance, it is possible to prevent unauthorized entry by a third party and to maintain the quality of the case database continuously.

A ninth medical information system according to the present invention comprises:
Since the attached finding information is changed according to the search request from the doctor in charge who registered the image information or the search request from another doctor in charge, the privacy of not only the patient but also the doctor in charge is protected, and case study / diagnosis is performed. It is used only for the primary purpose of support.

Further, in the tenth medical information system of the present invention, since the patient browsing means has an authentication function for authenticating that the access is from a patient registered in advance, the patient's privacy is protected in a protected state. You can freely browse the diagnostic information and image information at any time. In this way, the validity of the diagnosis / treatment given (or about to be given) by the attending physician can be sufficiently confirmed until the patient is satisfied.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a medical information system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. At the medical site 1, the patient 2 issues a chief complaint to the treating doctor 3 such as "how much part hurts". Advance diagnosis / treatment. The attending physician 3 comprehensively determines the chief complaint and appearance of the patient 2 and creates a primary finding. The primary findings created in the text document are formatted into a predetermined format structure by the primary findings adding means 5,
After being bound so as to be attached to the affected part image captured by the imaging unit 4, the image is converted into a specific encryption compression format, and transmitted to the medical information center 11 via the Internet 10 via the imaging information transmission unit 6. Since all data transmitted and received on the Internet 10 is scrambled and encrypted, it is possible to prevent a third party other than an authorized user from intercepting information and falsifying information. In the medical information center 11, the affected part image information attached to the primary finding information sent from the medical site 1 is received by the imaging information receiving means 12, and the user (user in charge) who has been registered in advance to check for data structure defects After verifying whether or not the information is from, the imaging information is newly registered in the case database 13. In addition, doctor 3 in charge of medical site 1
By driving the search condition receiving means 14 of the medical information center from the search condition transmitting means 7 in accordance with the purpose such as similar cases and past information of the patient himself, desired stored case information is obtained from the case database 13 of the medical information center 11. Can be extracted through the stored case transmitting means 15, the Internet 10, and the stored case receiving means 8. Case database 1
3 from the case database 1
Case search means 16 connected to 3 automatically generates an index of image information based on a keyword included in the primary finding, and provides a search result according to a request from the doctor 3 in charge.
Reference numeral 9 denotes an auxiliary storage device at the medical site 1, which stores the image information of the affected part of the patient 2 taken by the imaging unit 4 at the medical site 1. The search condition receiving means 14 in the medical information center 11 authenticates the access from the doctor 3 registered in advance as in the case of the imaging information receiving means 12 and, at the same time, the affected part image information corresponding to the search request results in the doctor 3 It decides whether it has been previously registered or registered by others, and changes the disclosure level.

FIG. 2 shows a system operation procedure of the medical information center 11 according to the first embodiment. First, in step 201, the doctor 3 in charge of the medical site 1 makes an application for membership registration in which the identity has been clarified. In step 202, the medical information center 11 refers to the medical association or the like for the identity of the doctor 3 in charge,
Examination / registration permission is performed according to the medical specialty field of the doctor 3 in charge, the model name of the imaging means 4 to be used, and the like. If the doctor 3 is not a practicing physician and does not have the imaging means 4 or the imaging information transmitting means 6 for registering information in the case database, he / she is treated as a quasi-member since he cannot contribute to the enhancement of the case database 13. The price system when searching for stored cases is set to be overpriced. Of course, those who do not have a doctor's license or those who do not have a qualification to handle the imaging means 4 cannot be registered as a member in principle. If the member registration is permitted, the unique ID for the doctor 3 in charge and the I
D is given. Thereafter, in order for the attending physician 3 to access the case database 13 of the medical information center 11 via the Internet 10, it is necessary to input the assigned ID and password. In step 205, the consent of registration to the present system is attached to the outpatient 2 who has visited the medical site 1 for examination. Even if patient 2 moves to another clinic that has joined (registered) this system on the way,
By transferring and reusing the living history together with the image information of the affected part, there is an advantage that unnecessary duplication of examinations can be prevented and the trend of chronic diseases can be tracked. Case database 13
In registering the affected part image of the patient 2 to the other user, the age, sex, imaging part,
Only the primary findings are released. In the image information, additional items such as the model name of the used imaging means and the imaging conditions are also added. If the patient 2 does not agree with the public registration in the present system, the affected part image information of the patient 2 is stored in the auxiliary storage device 9 in the medical site 1 so that the diagnosis / treatment completed only in the conventional medical site 1 can be performed. Inherited. On the other hand, if the consent of the patient 2 is given, the ID for each patient 2 is given in step 207, or if the patient is an ID finding patient, the patient ID is confirmed.
In step 208, if the patient is already registered, the past patient data is called from the case database 13. If the patient's past data can be used for diagnosis and treatment as it is, re-examination by the imaging means 4 is not performed. In other general cases, in step 209, the imaging unit 4
Then, the procedure proceeds to adding a primary finding by the attending physician 3 (step 210) and registering it in the case database 13 (step 211). If the attending physician 3 is worried about finding a finding, a similar case is called in step 212 and compared with the imaging result. If new knowledge on image information is obtained through treatment and prognosis information, step 21
In step 3, a comment is additionally registered in the primary finding column. Here, the primary findings column is provided separately for a non-disclosed portion that can be read and written only by the doctor 3 in charge, and a public portion that can be viewed by other users, and is an independent document without a patient image attached to the patient 2. Since the entry is permitted, the doctor 3 in charge of the medical site 1 stores all the medical record information in this case database 1.
3 can also be stored. For the contents registered in the case database 13 by the doctor in charge 3, the right to freely read / write / update / delete is given later. On the other hand, other users can search / browse the diseased part image information and the primary finding information that have been made public, but do not have the right to add or modify the contents.

The medical information center 11 is connected to a large number of medical sites such as private diagnostic facilities, private practice clinics, and examination laboratories, and operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The doctor 3 in charge at each medical site can have a discount on fees for other stored case searches according to the number of provided affected part image information of the patient 2 or the amount of information (number of characters) of the attached primary findings. In other words, the user who provides information is more likely to obtain information on other cases, and thus the case database 13 has a structure that is enriched in both quality and quantity. By physically moving all the medical record information at the medical site 1 to the medical information center 11, the attending physician 3 can solve the problems relating to long-term storage of data, storage media, or retrieval calls. By requesting that all information registered in the past be frozen and saved offline periodically by contract with the medical information center 11, accidents such as data tampering or loss can be avoided. The medical information center 11 requires an enormous storage capacity, a sufficient number of communication lines, and security measures, but acts as a mutual aid organization such as an individual practitioner who is hard to receive strong support from public research institutions.

Here, the medical information center does not necessarily need to exist as an independent organization at a location independent of each medical site. Equipment may be provided and operated on the premises of a certain medical site 1. Medical services such as internal medicine, surgery, dermatology, otolaryngology, obstetrics and gynecology, dentistry, etc., may mutually enter the same medical information center or may be separated.

When the patient 2 does not agree with the medical information center 11 for publicly registering the affected part image information, the captured image information need not be stored in the auxiliary storage device 9 in the medical site 1. As an undisclosed personal information file, a personal storage device different from the case database 13 may be provided in one corner of the medical information center 11 and all image data taken at the medical site 1 may be stored here. If the imaging of the affected part failed and was retaken, but that information should be saved for the time being, or the result of imaging a subject other than the patient, such as a phantom, for research purposes is stored in such a remote storage device. Is also good.

[0030] From the viewpoint of privacy protection,
If there is no non-copyable hardware key other than the D number and the password, the medical information center 11 may not be accessible. The medical information center 11 may periodically detect the unauthorized use of a third party by issuing a direct access use status confirmation table to the doctor 3 in charge of the medical site 1 on a regular basis. The search condition in the search condition receiving means 14 may be monitored, and a search request for a suspicious condition search (search frequency, search formula) may be forcibly excluded. For obvious misconduct, membership (ID number) may be stripped.

The image information registered in the case database is provided with a filter means capable of equalizing parameters such as density, contrast, resolution and the like caused by a characteristic shift of the imaging means 4 and imaging conditions by image processing. Is also good.

The primary finding information attached to the affected part image information by the attending physician 3 may be embedded in a part of the image information in advance, and the data may be transferred in a uniform image format. This is a method generally called "digital watermark", and has an effect of clarifying the copyright of the original image and preventing unauthorized use.

The imaging means 4 is directly connected to the medical information center 11 via the Internet 10 on-line.
A configuration may be adopted in which a dedicated auxiliary storage device 9 is provided, and only the information permitted to be disclosed is registered in the case database 13.

The image quality of the affected part of the patient obtained at the medical information center 11 greatly affects not only the imaging conditions but also the performance of the imaging means 4 itself. The huge amount of image information collected in the case database 13 of the medical information center 11
As it is, it will be a good material to distinguish the habit and performance of each device manufacturer and each model. The medical information center 11
The difference in device performance may be disclosed to each user (the doctor in charge), or a request may be made to the device manufacturer for performance improvement. As a result, high-value-added, high-performance diagnostic equipment will spread in the market, and the development of medical diagnostic technology as a whole will be promoted.

Although the image pickup means 4 for picking up an image of an affected part has been described as a diagnostic device, the present invention is not limited to a single black and white still image. It may be a color moving image, time-series waveform information, numerical information, or audio information. The diagnostic information may be a combination of a plurality of devices. Analog data such as a film photograph may be read by a scanner and transmitted digitally.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing a medical information system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. 3, blocks having the same functions as those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a specialist 17 having a superior interpretation technique different from the doctor in charge 3 uses the secondary finding adding means 18 to comment on the case database 13 for each case. The point is that it is added.
Since the secondary finding information by the specialist 17 is added to the same affected part image information in addition to the doctor 3 to which the primary finding has been added at the medical site 1, there is consistent and independent of the expertise of the doctor 3 concerned. The diseased part image information is managed, and a more accurate and objective diagnosis can be performed.

[0037] The specialist 17 also writes the case database 13
Among the many images of the affected area, the useful images that are extremely suggestive as diagnostic images and the images that seem to have failed in imaging (the contents are seldom readable) are classified into several stages, suitable for improving diagnostic techniques. A service may be provided in which the highest-level sample images are extracted, commented, and distributed to users. Similarly, the user (physician in charge) may be asked a question without giving a model answer (secondary finding) to urge the user to devise. In addition, other users (physicians in charge)
For the physician 3 who has provided useful and high-quality sample images, a fee for searching for other stored cases in the case database 13 is discounted.

Further, in order to introduce techniques for using the imaging means, images of successful imaging cases and failed imaging cases may be presented, and the causes and countermeasures may be taught to the user (medical doctor).

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing a medical information system according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. 4, blocks having the same functions as those shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 3 are given the same numbers, and descriptions thereof will be omitted. The third embodiment differs from the second embodiment in that a feature extraction unit 19 for performing classification according to a specific pattern of image content is connected to the case database 13. The operation of the feature extracting means 19 is described in, for example, M. Kobayakawa et al .: Image Retrieval System Based on Image Contents, bit, V
ol. 31, No. 10, pp. 23-34, 1999
And Norihiro Kobayakawa et al .: An Interactive Similar Image Retrieval System Using Wavelet Transform, bit, Vol. 31, No.
12, pp. 30-41, 1999, etc., and similar images are grouped. Although detailed description is omitted, 1) a wavelet transform is performed on each image to create a wavelet decomposition coefficient space, 2)
Generate contour image from wavelet decomposition coefficient space 3)
The local autocorrelation feature amount up to the second order is obtained for the reduced image and the contour image, and a feature vector corresponding to the image content is generated.
4) An index space is generated using discriminant analysis.
Each image is arranged at a predetermined position in the index space, and all the images are managed as numerical information on how similar each image is and how much.

Further, by correlating with the keywords included in the primary findings added by the attending physician 3 and the secondary findings added by the specialist 17, when the user performs a keyword search, the keywords are accurately included in the finding information. Even if the keyword is not added, not only the included image but also the similar image can be called up by recalling a similar image, that is, a fuzzy search using only the image can be performed. As a result, it is possible to easily draw out what findings other doctors and specialists 17 have found for similar cases, so that the diagnostic accuracy can be dramatically improved.

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 5 is a block diagram schematically showing a medical information system according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. 5, blocks having the same functions as those shown in FIGS. 1, 3, and 4 are given the same numbers,
Description is omitted. The fourth embodiment is different from the third embodiment in that a backup device 20 for backing up all data is connected to the case database 13 and that the affected part image information or finding is obtained in response to a browsing request from two patients. That is, the patient browsing means 21 for providing information is connected. Although not explicitly shown in FIG. 5, the patient 2 transmits the registration information of the two patients via the Internet 10 and the patient browsing means 21 from a personal computer at home based on the patient ID number taught by the doctor 3 in charge. It can be called from the database 13. The patient browsing means 21 determines whether the browsing request is from two patients by ID.
It is determined by a code and a password. Patient 2 has the affected part image information and primary findings in the case database 13,
The primary finding information can be browsed. The part of the entire medical record information relating to the patient 2 that is disclosed to the patient 2 as primary finding information is left to the attending physician 3. Of course, no patient ID code is assigned to the patient 2 who does not agree with the system registration, and this function does not operate. Case database 1
Patient 2 is not allowed to write to 3 itself,
The medical information center 11 may be used as a means of communication with the attending physician 3 among the outpatients 2 whose treatment is prolonged. This allows the two patients to make their own diagnosis,
Image information can be viewed freely regardless of time and place,
The validity of the treatment can be confirmed.

The backup device 20 is normally separated from the online case database 13 and regularly backs up and saves all databases 13. Although not shown here, the case database 13 has a double structure in order to guarantee 24-hour service, and the same data is written and stored in two places. Only during the backup operation, one of them is disconnected from the line, made offline, and the data is transferred to the backup device 20. The backup device 20 investigates whether there is any defect in the structure or format of all data, and if a defect is found, performs automatic error correction on the backup device 20 and the case database 13. By storing all log information such as “when and who sent information” in the external access information receiving means such as the imaging information receiving means 12, the search condition receiving means 14, and the patient browsing means 21. In this way, it is possible to minimize damages such as interception and information falsification in the event that a third party has entered illegally.

The backup device 20 does not need to be located in the same area and premises as the place where the case database 13 is provided. Rather, by locating it in a remote location, data loss during a large-scale disaster such as an earthquake or fire can be prevented.

[0044]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects.

(1) A quick and accurate diagnosis can be made. In addition, useless inspection duplication can be prevented.

(2) It is possible to improve the diagnosis technology between the doctors in charge.

(3) An objective diagnosis can be made which is not influenced by the specialty of the doctor in charge.

(4) A search for similar cases can be easily performed.

(5) It can provide important diagnostic suggestions that the attending physician can overlook. By giving keywords to image features, searchability can be improved.

(6) Data search / diagnosis from multiple angles can be easily realized.

(7) Long-term storage safety and searchability of patient data can be ensured.

(8) The illegal entry of a third party can be prevented, and the quality of the case database can be continuously maintained.

(9) The privacy of the attending physician as well as the patient is protected.

(10) The patient himself / herself can freely browse his / her own diagnosis and image information regardless of time and place, and can confirm the validity of the diagnosis / treatment.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a medical information system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a medical information center 11 according to the first embodiment.
Flow chart showing the system operation procedure

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a medical information system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a medical information system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a medical information system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Patient 3 Doctor in charge 4 Imaging means 5 Primary finding adding means 6 Imaging information transmitting means 7 Search condition transmitting means 8 Saved case transmitting means 10 Internet 12 Imaging information receiving means 13 Case database 14 Search condition receiving means 15 Saved case transmitting means 16 Search method for stored cases

Claims (10)

[Claims] The diagnosis is made by registering the affected part image information obtained by the imaging means in a case database, or searching for desired stored case information such as similar cases registered in the case database and past information of the patient. A membership-based medical information system to support. 2. The medical information system according to claim 1, wherein, when the doctor in charge registers the affected part image information in the case database, primary finding information is added. 3. The medical information system according to claim 1, wherein secondary finding information by a specialist different from a doctor in charge is added to the image information registered in the case database. 4. The medical information system according to claim 1, wherein said case database is connected to feature extracting means for performing classification according to a specific pattern of image contents. 5. The feature extracting means includes a first finding information or a second finding information.
5. The medical information system according to claim 4, wherein the specific pattern is associated by a correlation between the keyword included in the next finding information and the specific pattern of the image content. 6. The case database is connected to a stored case search means, and outputs specific selection information from the case database according to a search condition requested by a doctor in charge at a medical site. The medical information system according to any one of claims 1 to 5. 7. The medical information center is provided with imaging information receiving means for receiving diseased part image information transmitted from a doctor in charge or search condition receiving means for receiving search conditions.
7. The medical information system according to claim 1, wherein the imaging information receiving unit or the search condition receiving unit has a function of detecting or correcting an error in received information. 8. The medical information system according to claim 7, wherein the imaging information receiving means or the search condition receiving means has an authentication function for authenticating an access from a registered doctor in advance. 9. The medical information center is provided with a stored case transmitting means for attaching and transmitting finding information corresponding to the affected part image information requested to be searched by a doctor in charge, and the stored case transmitting means is registered in advance. 9. The medical information system according to claim 1, wherein the attached finding information is changed according to a request from the doctor in charge who registered the image information or a request from another doctor in charge. 10. A case database is connected to a patient browsing means for providing the affected part image information or finding information in response to a browsing request from the patient himself, and the patient browsing means is accessed by a patient registered in advance. The medical information system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising an authentication function for authenticating the following.