JP2002269535A - Medical information recording system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently record medical information formed of text information that is bibliographic information and dynamic image information. SOLUTION: In the medical information, the text information is recorded on a server 16 as a file according to DICOM, that is a standard method for medical information in the same manner as in the past, while the dynamic image information of the medical information is recorded on a DVD 32, in accordance with a general-purpose compression recording method. A unique ID 26 for specifying a file of dynamic images is contained in a file 18.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a medical information recording system, and more particularly to recording of a moving image and information related thereto.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a standard recording system for medical information, DICOM (Digital Image Communications in M
(edicine) standards are widely used in Japan and overseas. For example, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, an X-ray CT apparatus, an MRI apparatus, and the like have a function of transmitting and receiving data and recording according to the standard. In the DICOM standard, a file in which information is recorded (DICOM file) usually includes a recording area for bibliographic items (text information) and a recording area for image data. Here, the former bibliographic items include, as necessary, for example, a patient's name, date of birth, medical history, etc., and various information such as information for identifying a medical device and information on a medical treatment date and time. It is.
The latter image data is, for example, an ultrasonic image,
In general, the DICOM standard limits the recording of at most several tens of ultrasonic images to a practical limit. That is, it is not impossible to perform the compression recording of the image data according to the DICOM standard, but since a complicated image management method such as the management of the number of images is employed, the image data is recorded before a series of image data is recorded. It is necessary to temporarily capture the image data, and it is not possible to simply and continuously record image data as in the case of VTR recording.

On the other hand, as a moving image recording method, MPE
General-purpose high compression digital recording systems such as G are well known.
According to such a method, it is possible to record a moving image ranging from several minutes to several tens of minutes on a portable recording medium such as a DVD.

[0004] However, such a recording system is insufficient as a medical information recording system. Even if a moving image is simply recorded, if there is no patient information or measurement information, it can be sufficiently used as medical information. It is not possible. In addition, there is a need for a measure for fully utilizing the existing network configuration based on the DICOM standard that has already spread in the medical field.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a system capable of realizing reasonable recording of medical information (particularly, moving images).

Another object of the present invention is to realize a combined recording system capable of exhibiting both the advantages of the DICOM system and the advantages of other compression digital recording systems with a simple structure and low cost. .

[0007]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a first recording means for recording moving image information obtained by a medical device on a first recording medium according to a first recording method; Means for recording a file containing text information related to moving image information on a second recording medium according to a second recording method different from the first recording method, the method comprising: specifying a moving image information associated with the file; And a second recording unit for recording the file while including the specific information, wherein the moving image information associated with the file can be specified using the specific information in the file.

According to the above arrangement, the first moving image is
A file containing text information is recorded on the first recording medium by the recording method, and a file containing text information is recorded on the second recording medium by the second recording method, and a moving image is associated with the file with specific information. Therefore, by using a combination of the two recording methods, it is possible to overcome restrictions in the case of recording a moving image using a single recording method. In other words, medical information can be recorded by making the most of the advantages of the individual recording methods, and at that time, links are formed in the moving images and files that are separately recorded, so that reference and the like are easy. It is. The above system can be used for storing a large amount of still images.

Preferably, the specific information includes information for identifying the medical device and information on the date and time when the moving image information was obtained. The specific information is desirably a unique ID in the world. If the information for identifying the medical device and the information on the date and time when the moving image information is acquired (and other information as necessary) are combined, such unique ID can be obtained. An ID can be automatically assigned.

[0010] Preferably, the specific information further includes information for identifying the first recording medium. According to this configuration, when specifying the moving image information, the first recording medium on which the moving image information is stored can be specified.

Preferably, the first recording medium is a portable medium, for example, a medium such as a DVD (Digital Video Disk). Preferably, the second recording medium is a portable medium or a fixed recording device in a server.

Preferably, the first recording method is a general-purpose recording method in which image compression is performed, for example, an MPEG or DVD recording method. Preferably, the second recording method is a medical information recording method, and is basically a DICOM
It is.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the overall configuration of a medical information recording system according to the present invention.

The network 10 includes an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1
2. The terminal device 14 and the server 16 are connected.
The ultrasonic diagnostic device 12, the terminal device 14, and the server 16 exchange files and data with each other in accordance with the DICOM described above. In the present embodiment, recording of medical information is performed by the system shown in FIG. Generally, medical information is roughly divided into small-scale data composed mainly of still images in DICOM format and large-scale data composed of MPEG moving pictures. The former is recorded on the server 16 and the latter is composed of moving pictures. The image information is recorded on a DVD 32 described later. The features of this embodiment relate to the large-scale data described above.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 12 transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from a living body, thereby forming and displaying an ultrasonic image. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 12 includes a DVD
The recorder 30 is connected and the DVD recorder 3
With 0, an ultrasonic image as a moving image can be recorded on the DVD 32 in real time in parallel with the ultrasonic diagnosis. In the present embodiment, the MPEG method is used for the recording and compression, and the data of the compressed moving image is recorded on the DVD 32. On the other hand, text information in the medical information is transferred from the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 12 to the server 16 as a DICOM file.

The server 16 functions as a DICOM server, stores a plurality of files, and executes a service of providing files to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 12 and the terminal device 14 as needed.

Here, the structure of the file 18 will be described. As shown in FIG.
According to the ICOM, patient information 20, measurement conditions 22, image attributes 24 related to an ultrasonic image as a moving image, and the like are included. The DICOM file usually includes an image entity, but in the present embodiment, which is a case of moving image recording, the file 18 does not include an image entity, and a moving image is separately recorded on the DVD 32 as described above. . The unique ID 26 included in the file 18 is
This is information for specifying a moving image separately recorded in association with the ID, and a method of assigning the unique ID 26 will be described later.

The terminal device 14 is composed of, for example, a general-purpose computer, and displays the contents of a file provided from the server 16 or is stored on the DVD 32 by using a DVD recorder 66 connected thereto. A moving image can be reproduced and displayed. Figure 1
In the above, one ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1
Although two and one terminal devices 14 are connected, more devices may of course be connected to the network 10. Incidentally, the ultrasonic diagnostic device 12 or the terminal device 1
The present invention is also applicable to the case where the text information and the moving image information are stored and managed by different recording methods on FIG.

Next, the data structure of the DVD 32 will be described in detail. In FIG. 1, the management information 34 and the image information 36 are roughly stored on the DVD. Management information 3
4 includes a volume ID 38 and one or more index data 40, 42. Volume ID 3
Reference numeral 8 denotes an identification name given to the DVD 32, and a different name is assigned to each DVD. The index data 40 and 42 are created for each moving image.

The image information 36 constitutes an image entity and is constituted as one or a plurality of image files 46 and 48 associated with the index data 40 and 42. Each of the image files 46 and 48 is moving image data compressed as described above, and is, for example, a moving image of several minutes to one hour compressed. The index data 40 will be described in more detail. As shown in FIG. 1, the index data 40 includes a unique ID 26 for identifying and specifying a moving image.
It has information 52 about tracks as management information and information 54 about data length. Here, the unique ID 26 connects a plurality of information managed and recorded by DICOM in the present embodiment,
D38 is added. Here, the volume ID 38 is the volume ID assigned to the DVD 32.
That is, the volume ID 38 is included in the unique ID 26 in order to specify the DVD 32 in which the unique ID 26 is stored simply by referring to the unique ID 26.

In this embodiment, the basic part of the unique ID 26 is, for example, SOP according to DICOM.
This corresponds to the instance UID. Specifically, for example, the ID 56 of the manufacturer that manufactured the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 12 as a medical device, and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 12
ID 58 indicating the type of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 12
Serial number 60 and date and time information 6 when the moving image was created
2 and the like. That is, by forming a unique ID as a concatenation of the above information, a unique ID can be given in the world, and each moving image can be managed reliably and reliably. . Incidentally, the rack 100 shown in FIG.
Functions as a storage for the DVD 32, identifies each DVD 32 by using the volume ID 38 as a reference, and stores information of any moving image stored therein as D.
Reproduction and display can be performed using the VD recorders 30 and 66.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 12 when recording medical information. In S101, the moving image is compressed by MPEG along with the execution of the ultrasonic diagnosis, and the compressed moving image is recorded on a specific DVD 32 according to the DVD recording method. In S102, the above-described index data is created for the moving image, and the index data is recorded as management information 34 on a specific DVD. On the other hand, in S103, a file containing the text information according to DICOM is created and transferred to the server 16, that is, uploaded. Here, FIG.
As shown in (1), the file does not include the entity of the moving image, but instead includes the above-described unique ID.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 12 or the terminal device 14 when medical information is retrieved. In S201, an image search condition is input by the user on the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 12 or the terminal device 14. For example, information for specifying a patient, a diagnosis date, and the like is input.

The image search conditions are sent to the server 16, and the server 16 specifies a plurality of files 18 stored therein as search targets, and specifies a file satisfying the search conditions.

In S202, a search result is displayed on the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 12 or the terminal device 14. In this case, the information of the specific file is displayed as an image, and in that case, the volume ID 38 of the DVD 32 including the moving image information associated with the file 18 is also displayed. Of course, along with the display, unique ID
26 and the location where the DVD is stored may be displayed at the same time. In S203, it is determined by the user or automatically whether the specified DVD exists locally or exists on the network 10. If the specified DVD exists locally, the DVD recorder connected to the apparatus is determined. The moving image as an ultrasonic image is displayed on the display screen by specifying the image file associated with the file by 30 and answering / reproducing the data in the image file. of course,
For example, according to the displayed location information, for example, the rack 1
00, etc., a specific DVD is taken out and set in the DVD recorders 30 and 66.
4 can also be executed. On the other hand, if it is determined in S203 that the location of the DVD exists on the network, in S205 another DVD recorder is activated via the network, and the moving image data in a compressed state is requested via the network. A moving image can be displayed on the display screen by acquiring and decompressing and reproducing the data obtained by the original device.

Although FIG. 3 includes an operation of transferring moving image information on the network, as described above, when moving image information for several minutes or one hour is transmitted to the network 10, Basically,
It is desirable to perform local playback.

According to the above configuration, the DIC of the medical information
According to the OM, text information that is desirably recorded can be stored and stored in a DICOM file, while a moving image that is difficult to record depending on DICOM is stored in a DICOM file according to a general-purpose recording method.
The recording can be performed on the VD, that is, medical information can be efficiently recorded while exhibiting the advantages of the plurality of recording methods. In particular, a DICOM file can be uploaded to the server 16 or downloaded from the server 16
When downloading an ICOM file, the image information is not included in the file, so that the file can be accessed quickly, and the moving image associated with the file can be identified and reproduced without error. can do. In the above embodiment, the moving image information is stored on the DVD. However, it is needless to say that the moving image information may be recorded on another recording medium, for example, an optical disk or other portable medium, or fixed recording. You may make it record on an apparatus. Although the DICOM file is also recorded on the server connected to the network in the above description, it is needless to say that the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 12 itself may record the file.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Rational recording of medical information (especially moving images) can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the overall configuration of a system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation at the time of recording medical information in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and the terminal device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation at the time of searching for medical information in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and the terminal device.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 network, 12 ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, 14 terminal equipment, 16 server, 18 DICOM file,
26 unique ID, 32 DVD, 34 management information,
36 image information, 40 index data.

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) G06F 17/30 170 G06F 17/60 126Q 17/60 126 A61B 5/05 390 F term (reference) 4C093 AA22 CA32 FH01 FH03 FH04 FH09 4C096 AB42 AD16 DE01 DE03 DE04 DE09 4C301 JC16 JC20 KK31 LL13 LL20 5B050 AA02 BA03 BA10 BA15 BA20 CA05 CA08 FA19 GA08 5B075 ND12 NK04 NK21 NR16 UU29

Claims (6)

[Claims] A first recording unit that records moving image information acquired by a medical device on a first recording medium in accordance with a first recording method; and a first recording unit that stores a file including text information related to the moving image information. Means for recording on a second recording medium according to a second recording method different from the method, wherein the second recording means for recording the file while including identification information for identifying moving image information associated with the file, A medical information recording system, characterized in that moving image information associated with the file can be specified using specific information in the file. 2. The medical information recording system according to claim 1, wherein the specific information includes information for identifying the medical device and information on the date and time when the moving image information was acquired. system. 3. The medical information recording system according to claim 2, wherein the specific information further includes information for identifying the first recording medium. 4. The medical information recording system according to claim 1, wherein the first recording medium is a portable medium. 5. The medical information recording system according to claim 1, wherein the second recording medium is a portable medium or a recording device in a server. 6. The medical information according to claim 1, wherein the first recording method is a general-purpose recording method in which image compression is performed, and the second recording method is a medical information recording method. Recording system.