JP2005039701A - Medical image information processor and medical image information processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a medical image information processor and a medical image information processing system capable of easily and efficiently retrieving image data to be used for secular subtraction. <P>SOLUTION: The medical image information processor includes a UID data base 111 which stores past image information including information about a patient, information about an inspection moiety and image specification information to be used for specifying the image data, a retrieval part 103 which acquires the past image information about a second piece of image data of which the patient and the inspection target region are the same as that of a first piece of image data to be inputted from the outside by retrieving the UID database based on incidental information of the first piece of image data, an image data acquisition part 104 which requests an external image server to output the second piece of image data to be specified by the image specification information included the past image information acquired by the retrieval part and a subtraction operation part 105 which generates a third piece of image data by performing a difference operation between the first and second pieces of image data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a medical image information processing apparatus and a medical image information processing system that process image information obtained by medical radiography. In particular, the present invention relates to a medical image information processing apparatus for generating a temporal subtraction image using image information of the same subject photographed at different times, and to generate a temporal subtraction image using such an apparatus. The present invention relates to a medical image information processing system. In addition, in this application, in addition to general radiations, such as X-rays, alpha rays, beta rays, gamma rays, and ultraviolet rays, radiation refers to broad rays including particle beams such as electron beams and electromagnetic waves.

  Conventionally, an imaging method using radiation has been used in various fields, and particularly in the medical field, it has become one of the most important means for diagnosis. Since the first X-ray photography was realized, the X-ray photography method has been improved many times, and at present, a method combining a fluorescent screen and an X-ray film has become mainstream. On the other hand, in recent years, a radiographic method using a photostimulable phosphor has been established and attracts attention as a replacement for the conventional X-ray photography method. In addition, various digitized devices using X-ray CT (computed tomography), ultrasound, MR (magnetic resonance), etc. are put to practical use as devices used for medical diagnostic imaging. Therefore, construction of a diagnostic information processing system and the like in a hospital is about to proceed. In addition, radiography is the most commonly used medical imaging technique in Japan, and mass screening is widely performed in which a bus equipped with a radiographic apparatus is visited by a company or school.

  By the way, radiography in a mass screening is performed in order to discover diseases such as lung cancer and pneumoconiosis and to observe the progress. Therefore, when making a diagnosis, it is necessary to compare and observe a radiation image (current image) representing the current state with a radiation image (past image) obtained in the past. However, it has been difficult to retrieve past images corresponding to the current image from a large amount of radiographic images obtained for many patients, such as a mass screening, and it has taken a lot of time.

  In order to solve such a problem, Patent Document 1 discloses a past radiological image stored in a storage unit based on ID information corresponding to a diagnostic radiographic image signal in order to observe a temporal change in a subject. Search means for obtaining one or a plurality of comparative radiographic image signals of the same subject as the subject of the diagnostic radiographic image from the signals, and the display means simultaneously outputs the diagnostic radiographic image and the comparative radiographic image. A radiological image diagnostic apparatus that displays and displays side by side so that it can be observed is disclosed. However, even if the current image and the past image are displayed in comparison with each other, it is not easy to make a diagnosis by observing them, and skill of a doctor is required. In particular, in the above-described mass screening, doctors have to interpret a large amount of radiographic images in a short period of time, which places a heavy burden on the doctors and may cause mistakes such as oversight of lesions.

  Therefore, in recent years, it has been performed to support interpretation by a doctor by performing appropriate image processing on a digitized radiation image. For example, by performing image processing such as gradation processing and frequency processing on image data, or performing arithmetic processing using a plurality of sets of image data, a specific tissue can be emphasized or extracted and represented. That is, by performing such processing, it is possible to generate a radiation image according to the purpose of diagnosis.

  As one of such image processing techniques, a temporal subtraction technique is known. The temporal subtraction is a technique for generating a radiographic image based on difference data between two sets of image data obtained by radiographing the same subject at different times. Patent Document 2 discloses displaying a temporal change extracted image based on difference data in order to show a subject's temporal change in an easily observable state. In this way, by subtracting the past image from the current image, a portion where there is no change between them (for example, the common structure such as ribs and heart in the case of the chest) is removed, and the portion where the shadow is increased Is black, and the part where the shading is reduced is highlighted white. Such radiographic images are suitable for observing changes in subjects over time, such as newly occurring lesions and changes in existing lesions, improving the efficiency of interpretation work and reducing interpretation errors. There is a possibility.

  Incidentally, in recent years, the DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) standard has become mainstream in the field of medical image communication. DICOM is a medical image and communication standard developed by the American Radiological Society (ACR) and the North American Electronics Manufacturers Association (NEMA). By adopting DICOM, between different types of image generation devices (modalities) such as CR, CT, MRI, etc. and devices provided by different manufacturers (for example, image servers, image processing devices, image display devices), It is possible to exchange image data and inspection information via a network.

  In DICOM, object orientation is the basic concept. An object is a general term for various elements in medical images and communication and their relationships. Specifically, elements such as “patient”, “examination”, “series”, “apparatus”, and “image” defined as “Information Entity (IE)” and “Relation” The relationship between the defined “information entities” corresponds to the object. Then, the processing and operations performed in “Application Entity (AE)” representing various devices are replaced with the logical model of the above objects, and the results are normalized as “Information Object Definition”. ing.

  On the other hand, various processes applied to the information object defined in this way are defined as “service classes”. As the “service”, “query / retrieve service”, “storage service”, and the like are defined. Furthermore, such a combination of a service class and an information object is defined as SOP (Service / Object Pair). In an apparatus (AE) compliant with the DICOM standard, the exchange of data with other AEs is ensured by declaring the SOP class supported by the AE. In communication between AEs, an AE on the service class user (SCU) side issues a request (request), and an AE on the service class provider (SCP) side sends a response (response) ) Is taken.

  An attempt has been made to construct a system capable of performing subtraction over time by employing the DICOM standard. In temporal subtraction, the image data of the past image corresponding to the latest radiological image must be retrieved and acquired from a server in which a huge amount of image data is accumulated, so that the advantage of processing by digital communication is great. It is possible.

In general, when searching for image data in DICOM, a patient's name, patient ID, examination ID, and the like are used as search keys. For this reason, it is impossible to determine whether or not the acquired image data represents a part (for example, the front of the chest) to be subjected to temporal subtraction until the image is viewed. However, every time subtraction is performed, it is wasteful to obtain all image data that may be relevant from the server and discard unnecessary image data. Although it is conceivable to use an “imaging menu” representing an examination site as a search key for image data, in DICOM, it is an option to designate “imaging menu” as a search key, and the server used Does not necessarily support the option.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-107739 JP-A-8-263625

  Therefore, in view of the above points, the present invention can easily and efficiently search for image data used for temporal subtraction, and by performing temporal subtraction using the image data thus searched, An object is to provide a medical image information processing apparatus and a medical image information processing system for obtaining a temporal subtraction image.

  In order to solve the above problems, a medical image information processing apparatus according to the present invention stores past image information including information related to a patient, information related to a region to be examined, and image specifying information used to specify image data. And past images of second image data in which the first image data is the same as the patient and the examination site by searching the database based on the incidental information of the first image data input from the outside and the first image data input from the outside A search means for acquiring information and a request for an external image server to output the second image data specified by the image specifying information included in the past image information acquired by the search means Image data acquisition means and calculation means for generating third image data by performing a difference calculation between the first image data and the second image data Comprising a.

  In addition, the medical image information processing system according to the present invention includes an image data generation unit that generates image data by reading the radiation image information from a medium on which the radiation image information is recorded, an image server that stores the image data, The medical image information processing apparatus is configured to input first image data from an image data generating unit and input second image data from an image server.

  According to the present invention, the medical image information processing apparatus searches a database held in its own housing, thereby obtaining an optimal search key for searching image data, and using the search key, an image is stored in an image server. Since the data is retrieved, it is possible to acquire image data used for temporal subtraction at high speed and efficiently.

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a medical image information processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. This medical image information processing system includes a medical image information processing device 1, a medical image reading device 2, an image server 3, an image display device 4, and an image output device 5. These devices 1 to 5 comply with the DICOM standard and are connected to each other via a network N1.

  The medical image information processing apparatus 1 has a function for generating temporal subtraction image data based on input image data and searching for image data used for the generation. The medical image information processing apparatus 1 behaves as an SCP (Service Class Provider) for a storage service class and a verification service class. Further, the medical image information processing apparatus 1 behaves as an SCU (Service Class User) with respect to a storage service class and a search / acquisition (Query / Retrieve) service class.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a medical image information processing apparatus 1 includes a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) 10 that processes image data and image supplementary information, and a hard disk 11 as a recording medium that records image data and the like. And a disk control unit 12 for controlling the hard disk 11, a network interface 13, and a memory 14 for temporarily storing input image data and image supplementary information. The CPU 10, the disk control unit 12, and the memory 14 are connected to each other via a bus line BL, and the bus line BL is connected to the network N1 via the network interface 13.

  The CPU 10 includes a determination unit 101, a registration unit 102, a search unit 103, an image data acquisition unit 104, a subtraction calculation unit 105, and an output unit 106. The determination unit 101 determines whether the image data input to the medical image information processing apparatus 1 is data to be subjected to temporal subtraction. The registration unit 102 registers information related to image data to be subjected to temporal subtraction in a database recorded on the hard disk 11. The search unit 103 searches a database in order to acquire information used when searching for image data (past image data) of a past image corresponding to input image data (current image data).

  The image data acquisition unit 104 acquires the image data by searching the image data recorded in the image server 3 based on the information searched by the search unit 103. Alternatively, the image data acquisition unit 104 may acquire the image data by searching the image data recorded on the hard disk 11 based on the information searched by the search unit 103. The subtraction calculation unit 105 performs time-dependent subtraction image data by performing subtraction processing using the current image data input this time and the past image data acquired by the search. The output unit 106 outputs information such as image data to an external device (AE) via the interface 13 and the network N1.

  The hard disk 11 records software (program) for causing the CPU 10 to perform processing. The hard disk 11 records a UID (Unique Identifier) database (DB) 111 and an image database (DB) 112. In addition to the built-in hard disk, an external hard disk, flexible disk, MO, MT, RAM, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or the like can be used as the recording medium.

FIG. 2 shows information stored in the UID database 111 and the image database 112 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the UID database 111 stores information related to past images used for temporal subtraction. Information related to past images includes patient information including patient name, patient ID, date of birth and sex, examination information including examination number, imaging menu, examination date, SOPinstanceUID, and acquisition AE name. include. Here, the SOPinstanceUID is a UID assigned to each image data in order to represent the origin of the image data. Further, the acquisition destination AE name is the AE name of the other party from which the image data is acquired, and corresponds to the image server 3 in this embodiment. Note that “SVR” in the acquisition source AE name in FIG. 2 represents the AE name of the image server 3. Hereinafter, these pieces of information are referred to as past image information.
The image database 112 stores a plurality of sets of image data representing a plurality of radiation images.

  Referring to FIG. 1 again, the medical image reading apparatus 2 generates image data by reading image information recorded by radiography. The medical image reading apparatus 2 behaves as an SCU for a storage service class and a verification service class.

  In the present embodiment, a sheet (recording sheet) coated with a photostimulable phosphor (accumulating phosphor) is used as a medium for recording image information. Here, a stimulable phosphor is a substance that emits a part of its radiation energy when irradiated with radiation and then emits a stimulating light according to the stored energy when irradiated with excitation light such as visible light. That is. A radiographic image of a subject is photographed and recorded on a sheet coated with this substance, and when the recording sheet is scanned with excitation light such as laser light, stimulated emission light is generated. Image data is obtained by photoelectrically reading this light. It is.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the configuration and operation of the medical image reading apparatus 2. As shown in FIG. 3, the recording sheet 200 on which the radiation image is recorded is set at a predetermined position of the medical image reading apparatus. The recording sheet 200 is conveyed in the Y-axis direction by a sheet conveying unit 202 driven by a motor 201. On the other hand, the beam 204 emitted from the laser light source 203 is reflected and deflected by a rotating polygon mirror 206 that is driven by a motor 205 and rotates at high speed in the direction of the arrow, and passes through a converging lens 207. After that, the beam 204 changes its optical path by the mirror 208, enters the recording sheet 200, and scans in the X-axis direction.

  By this scanning, the excitation light 204 is irradiated onto the recording sheet 200, and the amount of stimulated emission light 209 corresponding to the accumulated and recorded radiation image information is diverged from the irradiated portion. The stimulated emission light 209 is guided by a light guide 210 and is detected photoelectrically by a photomultiplier (photomultiplier tube) 211. The analog signal output from the photomultiplier 211 is amplified by the amplifier 21 and digitized by the A / D converter 22. The data output unit 23 outputs the digitized image data to the medical image information processing apparatus 1 (see FIG. 1) in DICOM format via the network N1.

  Referring to FIG. 1 again, the image server 3 includes a recording medium 30 and records and manages image data. The image server 3 behaves as SCP for the storage service class and the search / retrieve service class.

  The image display device 4 is a viewer that displays a radiation image on a screen based on input image data, and includes a CRT and an LCD. The image output device 5 is a device that prints on a medium such as a film based on the input image data and outputs it, and includes, for example, a laser printer. The image display device 4 and the image output device 5 may perform necessary image processing such as gradation processing and frequency processing on the image data.

Next, the operation of the medical image information processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, description will be made assuming that a temporal subtraction image is generated only for image data whose shooting menu is “front of chest”.
First, an operation of accumulating past image data and information related to past images in the medical image information processing system will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 4. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of accumulating past image data and information on past images in the medical image information processing system. At the time when the medical image information processing system according to the present embodiment is in operation (for example, within one year), image data of past images that are subject to temporal subtraction are not accumulated. In this case, only the operation of storing image data or the like is performed.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the medical image reading apparatus 2 generates image data by reading image information recorded on a recording sheet by radiography in step S1. At that time, the medical image reading apparatus 2 issues a SOPinstanceUID. Further, the medical image reading apparatus 2 outputs the issued SOPinstanceUID to the medical image information processing apparatus 1 together with the image data as a part of the image supplementary information.

  In step S11, the medical image information processing apparatus 1 receives image data and image supplementary information (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “accompanying information”). Here, for patient information and examination information, information input in the medical image reading apparatus 2 may be received together with the image data as image supplementary information together with the SOPinstanceUID. Alternatively, patient information and examination information input in an external device such as a reception terminal are transmitted to the medical image information processing apparatus 1 via the network N1, and are associated with corresponding image data in the medical image information processing apparatus 1. May be. In that case, information for linking the image data and the image supplementary information is required. For this purpose, for example, a barcode or the like is attached to the recording sheet side on which image information is recorded, and the barcode is read when inputting patient information or the like at the reception terminal or the like, whereby the information represented by the barcode is displayed. It is conceivable that patient information and image data are associated with each other.

  Next, in step S <b> 12, the determination unit 101 of the medical image information processing apparatus 1 determines whether or not the input image data is data that is subject to temporal subtraction. The discriminating unit 101 determines that it is a subject of temporal subtraction when the shooting menu is “front of chest” in the incidental information of the input image data.

  When it is determined in step S12 that the image data is a subject of temporal subtraction, the registration unit 102 of the medical image information processing apparatus 1 stores the past image in the UID database 111 shown in FIG. 2 based on the image supplementary information. The information regarding is registered (step S13). At that time, the registration unit 102 registers the AE name of the image server 3 that is the storage destination of the image data as “acquisition destination AE name”. On the other hand, when the image data is not a subject of temporal subtraction, registration of information regarding past images is not performed.

  Next, in step S14, the output unit 106 of the medical image information processing apparatus 1 requests the image server 3 to output and store the image data. In response to this, the image server 3 receives and stores the image data in step S2.

By repeating such operations, information related to past images is sequentially stored in the UID database 111 in the hard disk 11 of the medical image information processing apparatus 1.
Here, in FIG. 4, every time image data is input, it is determined whether or not the image data is a target of temporal subtraction, and information about the past image is registered only for the target image data. However, information regarding past images may be registered once for all input image data, and information regarding past images regarding image data that is not subject to temporal subtraction may be deleted later.

  Next, an operation for performing temporal subtraction in the medical image information processing system will be described with reference to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of performing temporal subtraction in the medical image information processing system. The medical image information processing system according to the present embodiment registers information related to past images for newly input image data (current image data) when the input image data is subject to temporal subtraction, and The past image data corresponding to the image data is searched, and the time-lapse subtraction image is generated using them.

In step S1, the medical image reading apparatus 2 reads image information recorded on a recording sheet by radiography, generates image data, and outputs the image data together with the SOPinstanceUID.
In step S21, the medical image information processing apparatus 1 receives image data and image supplementary information. The method for inputting image supplementary information is the same as that described in step S11 of FIG.

  Next, in step S <b> 22, the medical image information processing apparatus 1 determines whether the input image data is data to be subjected to temporal subtraction. That is, the determination unit 101 of the medical image information processing apparatus 1 determines that it is a subject of temporal subtraction when the shooting menu is “front of chest” in the incidental information of the input image data.

  When it is determined in step S22 that the image data is a target of temporal subtraction, in step S23, the search unit 103 of the medical image information processing apparatus 1 obtains a past image used for temporal subtraction. The UID database 111 shown in FIG. That is, the search unit 103 uses “patient name”, “patient ID”, “examination date”, “imaging menu”, etc. as search keys, and is the same patient as the image data input this time, and has been examined in the past. Search for information related to past images corresponding to the same shooting menu (front of chest).

  As a result of the search in step S23, when there is information related to the corresponding past image, in step S24, the image data acquisition unit 104 searches the image data using the SOPinstanceUID of the information related to the past image as a search key. A request is made to the image server 3. In response to this, the image server 3 searches the image data based on the SOPinstanceUID in step S3, and outputs the acquired image data to the medical image information processing apparatus 1 in step S4. In step S25, the medical image information processing apparatus 1 acquires image data.

  In step S <b> 26, the subtraction calculation unit 105 performs subtraction processing using the current image data input this time and the past image data acquired by the image server 3. That is, the subtraction calculation unit 105 first aligns the past image data so that the normal structure (for example, a bone or a heart) represented in the past image matches the normal structure represented in the current image. Do. Next, the subtraction calculation unit 105 generates subtraction image data by subtracting the past image data that has been aligned from the current image data. Refer to Patent Document 2 for details of the temporal subtraction.

  In step S <b> 27, the registration unit 102 registers information related to the past image in the UID database 111 based on the incidental information of the image data input this time. Also, as a result of the search in step S23, the registration unit 102 performs registration in the UID database 111 even when there is no information regarding the corresponding past image, that is, when there is no past image. As a result, the image data input this time can be used as past image data when performing temporal subtraction for the same patient next time.

Next, in step S28, the output unit 106 requests the image server 3 to output and save the generated temporal subtraction image data and the image data input this time. In response to this, the image server 3 receives and stores these image data in step S5. If the input image data is not the subject of temporal subtraction as a result of the determination in step S22, the input image data is output to the image server 3 and stored.
Further, the generated temporal subtraction image data may be output to the image display device 4 or the image output device 5, and the temporal subtraction image may be displayed on a screen or printed on a film for output.

  According to the present embodiment, SOPinstanceUID, which is optimum search information for specifying a past image, is acquired by searching a database in the own housing. Since image data is searched using the SOPinstanceUID, only necessary past image data can be acquired quickly and efficiently without acquiring unnecessary images. In addition, while the medical image information processing system according to the present embodiment is in operation, a database for storing information related to past images is constructed, so that it is not necessary to create a database manually, thereby reducing the burden on the user. can do.

Next, the operation of the medical image information processing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1, FIG. 4, FIG. 6, and FIG. The configuration of the medical image information processing system according to this embodiment is the same as that of the medical image information processing system shown in FIG.
The medical image information processing system according to this embodiment is characterized in that image data is stored not only in an image server but also in a medical image information processing apparatus. That is, in the operation of accumulating the image data shown in FIG. 4, when the image data is stored (step S14), the image data to be subjected to the temporal subtraction is transferred to the hard disk 11 of the medical image information processing apparatus 1 (see FIG. 1). The image server 3 stores image data that is not subject to temporal subtraction. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, the image data of the front of the chest is accumulated in the image database 112, and the name of the own housing is registered in the acquisition source AE name of the UID database 111. Note that “SUB” in the acquisition source AE name in FIG. 6 represents the AE name of the medical image information processing apparatus 1, and “SVR” represents the AE name of the image server 3.

  Here, the amount of image data that can be recorded on the hard disk 11 in the medical image information processing apparatus 1 is limited. Therefore, when the capacity of the hard disk 11 becomes full, the old image data among the image data stored in the image database 112 is transferred to the image server 3, and the newly input image data is transferred to the image database. You may make it preserve | save to 112. Alternatively, only the image data acquired in a predetermined period may be stored in the image database 112, and the image data deviated from that period may be sequentially transferred to the image server 3. In any case, only a predetermined amount of image data is stored in the image database 112 according to a predetermined condition according to the capacity of the hard disk. In addition, the acquisition unit AE name in the UID database 111 is rewritten by the registration unit 102 according to the storage destination of the image data.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the medical image information processing system according to this embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 7, the medical image reading apparatus 2 generates image data by reading image information recorded on a recording sheet by radiography in step S1, and outputs the image data together with the SOPinstanceUID.
In response to this, the medical image information processing apparatus 1 receives the image data and the image supplementary information in step S31. The method for inputting image supplementary information is the same as that described for step S11 in FIG.

  Next, in step S <b> 32, the determination unit 101 determines whether the medical image information processing apparatus 1 is the input image data that is subject to temporal subtraction. When the determination result is a target of temporal subtraction, in step S33, the search unit 103 searches the UID database 111 to acquire information on past images used for temporal subtraction. The determination method in step S32 and the search method in step S33 are the same as the operations in steps S22 and S23 shown in FIG.

  In step S34, the image data acquisition unit 104 searches the image database 112 using the SOPinstanceUID as a search key when the acquisition source AE name of the information related to the searched past image is “SUB” (step S35). On the other hand, when the acquisition source AE name is “SVR”, the image server 3 is requested to search the image data using the SOPinstanceUID as a search key (step S36). In response to this, the image server 3 searches the image data based on the SOPinstanceUID in step S3, and outputs the acquired image data to the medical image information processing apparatus 1 in step S4. In step S37, the medical image information processing apparatus 1 acquires image data.

  In step S38, the subtraction calculation unit 105 performs subtraction processing using the current image data input this time and the acquired past image data. The subtraction process is the same as that described in the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In step S39, the registration unit 102 registers information related to the past image in the UID database 111 based on the incidental information of the image data input this time. Also, as a result of the search in step S <b> 33, the registration unit 102 registers in the UID database 111 even when there is no information regarding the corresponding past image.

  Next, in step S40, the output unit 106 outputs the generated temporal subtraction image data to the image server 3, and requests the image server 3 to save the image data. In response to this, the image server 3 receives and stores the image data in step S5. The image data input this time is stored in the hard disk 11 or the image server 3 according to the conditions. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S32 that the input image data is not a subject of temporal subtraction, the input image data is output to the image server 3 and stored.

  According to the present embodiment, since the database in the own housing is searched based on the SOPinstanceUID obtained as a result of the search, it is possible to acquire past image data at high speed.

Next, a medical image information processing system according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The configuration of the medical image information processing system according to this embodiment is the same as that of the medical image information processing system shown in FIG.
Here, depending on the connection status of devices in the medical image information processing system, information about past images stored in the UID database 111 of the medical image information processing apparatus 1 may be subject to temporal subtraction stored in the image server 3. There may be a case where all the images are not covered. Specifically, for example, when a medical image information processing apparatus is connected later to an image server in which image data is already stored, or directly from the medical image reading apparatus to the image server without using the medical image information processing apparatus. A case where image data is input is considered. The medical image information processing system according to the present embodiment is a system for avoiding a double search of a database or an image server in such a case.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the medical image information processing system according to this embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 8, in step S41, the medical image information processing apparatus 1 requests the image server 3 for image supplementary information related to predetermined image data among the stored image data. Here, the predetermined image data is, for example, image data recorded at a predetermined range of addresses. In response to this, the image server 3 extracts the image supplementary information of the image data satisfying the predetermined condition in step S6, and outputs it to the medical image information processing apparatus 1 in step S7. In step S42, the medical image information processing apparatus 1 acquires image supplementary information.

  Next, the medical image information processing apparatus 1 registers information related to past images in steps S43 to S45. That is, in step S43, the determination unit 101 determines whether or not the image data is data to be subjected to temporal subtraction based on the shooting menu of the input image supplementary information.

  If it is determined in step S43 that the image data is data subject to temporal subtraction, in step S44, the registration unit 102 stores a past image in the UID database 111 based on the input image supplementary information. Register information. In that case, the medical image information processing apparatus 1 may request the image server 3 to acquire the image data and store the image data in the image database 112 in its own housing. In addition, when the information regarding the past image regarding the said image data is already registered into the UID database 111, new registration is not performed. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S43 that it is not subject to temporal subtraction, registration is not performed and the image supplementary information is deleted (step S45).

By performing such an operation for a predetermined time, for example, once a day, the medical image information processing apparatus 1 accumulates information regarding past images in the UID database 111.
According to the present embodiment, it is possible to construct a database for searching for past images to be subjected to temporal subtraction without manually creating a database.

  In the first to third embodiments described above, simply storing information related to past images in the UID database results in a large database. In that case, only the information satisfying a predetermined condition (for example, the past three years or 300,000 cases) may be left and the old information may be deleted. For example, when a medical image information processing system is used in a periodic checkup of a company or the like, information for the past year is sufficient. Therefore, when a new periodic medical examination is performed, information on past images may be deleted from the UID database after performing temporal subtraction.

  The first to third embodiments of the present invention described above have been described on the premise of a medical image information processing system constructed based on the DICOM standard. However, the present invention may be applied to a system constructed based on other standards or a plurality of directly connected devices. In that case, instead of the SOPinstanceUID used when retrieving the image data, an ID for uniquely identifying each image data is used, and the ID of the counterpart device is used instead of the acquisition source AE name. Use it.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the medical image information processing system which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the content of the UID database and image database which are shown in FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the medical image reading apparatus shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the medical image information processing system which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the medical image information processing system which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the content of a UID database. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the medical image information processing system which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the medical image information processing system which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Medical image information processing apparatus 2 Medical image reading apparatus 3 Image server 4 Image display apparatus 5 Image output apparatus 10 CPU
11 Hard disk 12 Disk control unit 13 Network interface 14 Memory 30 Recording medium 101 Discrimination unit 102 Registration unit 103 Search unit 104 Image data processing unit 105 Subtraction calculation unit 106 Output unit 111 UID database 112 Image database

Claims (9)

A database that stores past image information including information about a patient, information about a region to be examined, and image specifying information used to specify image data;
By retrieving the database based on the incidental information of the first image data input from the outside, the past image information about the second image data in which the patient and the examination target part are the same as the first image data is acquired. Search means to
Image data acquisition means for requesting an external image server to output the second image data specified by the image specifying information included in the past image information acquired by the search means;
Calculating means for generating third image data by performing a difference calculation between the first image data and the second image data;
A medical image information processing apparatus comprising:   The medical image information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the medical image information processing apparatus conforms to a DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) standard.   2. The determination unit according to claim 1, further comprising: a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the inspection target portion represented by the incidental information of the first image data input from the outside is a calculation target in the calculation unit. 2. The medical image information processing apparatus according to 2.   The medical image information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising registration means for registering past image information in the database based on incidental information of the first image data input from outside. A second database for storing image data corresponding to at least a part of past image information stored in the database;
When the image data acquisition means indicates the storage location of the image data included in the past image information acquired by the search means, the image identification included in the past image information The medical image information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second image data is acquired by causing the search unit to search the second database based on information.   When image supplementary information of a predetermined number of image data stored in the image server is input and the image supplementary information satisfies a predetermined condition, past image information included in the image supplementary information is stored in the database. The medical image information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising registration means for registering.   The predetermined condition is that the examination target portion represented by the image supplementary information is a target of computation in the computing means, and past image information corresponding to the image supplementary information is not registered in the database. The medical image information processing apparatus according to claim 6. Image data generating means for generating image data by reading the radiation image information from the medium on which the radiation image information is recorded;
An image server for storing image data;
The medical image information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the first image data is input from the image data generation unit, and the second image data is input from the image server.
A medical image information processing system comprising:   9. The medical image information processing according to claim 8, wherein the image data generation means, the image server, and the medical image information processing apparatus communicate via a network in accordance with a DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) standard. system.

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