JP2005084923A - Medical diagnosis support system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid the situation where a plurality of radiologists concurrently performs an image reading work for the same medical image. <P>SOLUTION: For a medical image under reading (that is, sent to an image reading apparatus 20), a management server 40 records an image reading flag indicating the image reading in progress and the ID of the radiologist who operates the destination image reading apparatus 20 in an image reading list in an image reading list database 30c, and sends them both to all image reading apparatuses 20. When the management server 40 sends the image reading flag and radiologist ID, the image reading apparatus 20 adds the image reading flag and radiologist ID to the image reading list acquired (or sent) in advance from the image reading apparatus 20 and stored in a RAM 23. When an image reading command is input, the image reading apparatus 20 determines whether or not to display a medical image in response to the image reading command, according to the added image reading flag and radiologist ID. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a medical diagnosis support system for performing diagnosis support using a medical image such as a radiographic image.

  Conventionally, a system for transferring, storing, and displaying digitized medical image data called a medical PACS (Picture Archiving Communication System) has been developed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In medical PACS, medical image data acquired by various modalities (including a digitizer for converting a medical image taken on a film into digital data) and image attribute information (for example, examination information) associated with each medical image data , Image accompanying information, interpretation report, etc.) are stored in a database together with an interpretation list representing medical images to be interpreted (that is, uninterpreted images) for sharing. Here, examples of the inspection data and the image-accompanying data are shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, respectively.

  The medical PACS includes an image interpretation device that allows an interpreting doctor to browse the interpretation list and interpret a medical image in the interpretation list.

The interpretation doctor interprets a medical image included in the interpretation list, and creates an interpretation report related to the medical image by handwriting or as electronic data. For example, according to the invention disclosed in Patent Document 2, a series of procedures for performing an interpretation operation such as reading a medical image to be interpreted and creating an interpretation report related to the read medical image are described. .
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-12352 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-56953

However, the conventional technique disclosed in Patent Document 2 has the following problems.
The above-described interpretation work is actually performed by a plurality of interpretation doctors because there are many medical images to be interpreted. In such a case, there may arise a problem that interpretation work for the same medical image is performed in parallel by two or more interpretation doctors.
In particular, in the case of a system in which the medical PACS and the report system cannot be linked, for example, a report system in which an interpretation report is created by handwriting on paper, the above problem becomes significant.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a medical diagnosis support system capable of avoiding a situation in which interpretation work for the same medical image is performed in parallel by a plurality of interpretation doctors.

In order to solve the above problem, the invention according to claim 1
A storage unit that stores medical images, a management server that manages the interpretation status of the medical images, and a list of medical images that should be interpreted according to the interpretation status acquired from the management server are selected from the list. A medical diagnosis support system in which a plurality of image reading devices that acquire and display medical images from the storage unit are connected to a network,
The image reading device includes:
When acquiring a medical image from the storage unit and interpreting, notify the management server that the medical image is being interpreted;
The management server
When there is a medical image being interpreted, the plurality of image interpretation devices are notified that the medical image is being interpreted.

Further, as in the invention according to claim 2, in the invention according to claim 1,
The image interpretation device comprises:
It is preferable to display the list corresponding to the medical image that has been notified that the interpretation is in progress with a mark indicating that the interpretation is in progress.

Further, in the invention according to claim 1 or 2, as in the invention according to claim 3,
The image interpretation device comprises:
After the interpretation ends, the management server is notified that the interpretation is complete,
Preferably, the management server notifies the plurality of image interpretation devices to delete the medical image notified of the completion of the interpretation from the list.

  Therefore, since it is obvious at a glance which medical image is currently being interpreted, it is possible to avoid a situation in which interpretation work on the same medical image is performed in parallel by a plurality of interpreting doctors.

Hereinafter, an embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
First, the configuration of the medical diagnosis support system 100 will be described with reference to FIG. The medical diagnosis support system 100 is for performing diagnosis support using a medical image such as a radiographic image based on a medical PACS.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a medical diagnosis support system 100 includes a modality 10, an image interpretation device 20 for interpreting medical image data, a database 30, a management server 40, and the like via a network 60 such as a LAN (Local Area Network). The inspection order system 50 is connected to the management server 40. Note that the number of components of the medical diagnosis support system 100 shown in FIG. 1 is not limited to that illustrated, and can be arbitrarily set. In particular, a plurality of image interpretation devices 20 may be provided.

  The modality 10 creates medical image data, and transmits it to the management server 40 together with image associated data (refer to the image associated data B shown in FIG. 8 as an example) related to the medical image data. Such medical image data and image-accompanying data are stored in the image database 30a of the database 30 based on control by the management server 40 and used for diagnosis.

  Each medical image data is accompanied by image associated data. For example, the image-accompanying data is recorded in the header of each medical image data (or as other independent data different from the medical image data). Medical image data is managed collectively for each examination number.

  The modality 10 includes a film digitizer 10a, an angiography apparatus 10b, a CT (Computed Tomography) scanner apparatus 10c, an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) apparatus 10d, a nuclear medicine diagnosis apparatus 10e, an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus 10f, an electronic endoscope apparatus 10g, It consists of CR (Computed Radiography) 10h and the like. In particular, the film digitizer 10a is a device that reads a taken medical image with a scanner or the like and converts it into digital data.

  The image interpretation apparatus 20 displays the contents of the interpretation list stored in the interpretation list database 30c of the database 30 transmitted from the management server 40 (particularly, the list contents corresponding to medical image data for which an interpretation report has not been created). At the same time, the medical images stored in the image database 30a of the database 30 are read and displayed via the management server 40 (see FIG. 2).

  Here, the interpretation list indicates various types of medical image data created by the modality 10, and medical image data that has been interpreted (that is, an interpretation report has been created) and that have not yet been interpreted (that is, Medical image data for which an interpretation report has not been created).

  The database 30 includes an image database 30a for storing various medical image data, an interpretation report database 30b for storing interpretation report data created by an interpretation doctor, and an interpretation list database 30c for storing the interpretation list. The database 30 is managed by the management server 40, but a dedicated management server may be provided.

  The management server 40 is a storage unit that stores various data such as medical images created by the modality 10 in a readable / writable manner. When the medical image data is received from the modality 10, the medical image data is stored in the image database 30 a and the contents of the interpretation list stored in the interpretation list database 30 c are transmitted from the examination order system 50. Is changed based on the contents of the examination data (see examination data A shown in FIG. 7 as an example) (that is, the list item relating to the received medical image is added to the interpretation list).

  The examination order system 50 transmits examination data indicating the examination details of each patient acquired from RIS (Radiorogy Information System) / HIS (Hospital Information System) to the management server 40. The management server 40 performs various data management (including management of interpretation report data) by associating medical image data with image attribute information (examination data, image-accompanying data, etc.).

  Next, the configuration of the image interpretation apparatus 20 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the image interpretation apparatus 20 includes a control unit 21, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 22, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 23, an input unit 24, a display unit 25, and a communication unit 26, which are mutually connected by a bus 27. Connected to.

  The control unit 21 comprehensively controls the image interpretation apparatus 20 by executing various programs stored in the ROM 22.

  When receiving the interpretation list from the management server 40, the control unit 21 stores the interpretation list in the RAM 23 and, based on the contents of the interpretation list, for example, FIG. An interpretation list screen 251 (or an interpretation list screen 252) for designating an interpretation image as shown in FIG. 6) is displayed on the display device of the display unit 25.

  The ROM 22 stores the various programs and various data necessary for executing the programs. The ROM 22 may be configured to include a recording medium (not shown) in which various programs and various data are stored in advance. This recording medium is a non-volatile memory that is fixedly or detachably provided on the ROM 22 and is configured by a magnetic recording medium, an optical recording medium, or a semiconductor memory.

  The RAM 23 temporarily stores the various programs so as to be executable and also has a function as a buffering memory.

  The input unit 24 includes various pointing devices such as a mouse and a touch panel, a keyboard including cursor keys, numeric input keys, various function keys, and the like (all not shown). The input instruction signal is output to the control unit 21.

  The display unit 25 includes a display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), and displays the contents of various display data according to display control signals from the control unit 21. In particular, the display unit 25 displays an interpretation list screen 251 (or an interpretation list screen 251) for designating an interpretation image as shown in FIG. 5 (or FIG. 6), for example.

  The communication unit 26 is configured by a LAN board, a router, a TA (Terminal Adapter), or the like (all not shown), and performs communication performed between the modality 10, the image interpretation device 20, and the database 30 via the network 60. The communication performed with the inspection order system 50 is controlled.

Next, the operation of the medical diagnosis support system 100 will be described.
First, the operation of the management server 40 will be described with reference to FIG.

  When the transmission request for medical image data is received together with the ID of the requester (interpretation doctor) who is the operator of the image interpretation apparatus 20 that is the transmission source of the transmission request (step S10), the medical image requested to be transmitted. The data is transmitted to the image interpretation apparatus 20 that is the transmission request source, and the interpretation flag and ID are transmitted to all the image interpretation apparatuses 20 that are currently activated (step S11).

  After step S11, a flag indicating that the medical image data has been transmitted to the image interpretation device 20 (interpretation flag) and the ID are recorded in the interpretation list of the interpretation list database 30c (step S12).

  Here, when a transmission request for medical image data is received, the presence / absence of an interpretation flag relating to the medical image data is determined, and the medical image data is transmitted to the transmission request source only when there is no interpretation flag. .

When data indicating the end of interpretation is transmitted from the transmission destination of the medical image data, the interpretation flag related to the medical image data is reset to a flag indicating that the interpretation is not currently performed, and data indicating this is displayed. It may be transmitted to all the image interpretation devices 20.
Further, after that, it is determined whether or not an interpretation report related to the medical image data is recorded in the interpretation report database 30b. If the interpretation report is recorded in the interpretation report database 30b, the interpretation report has been created. The indicated data may be added to the interpretation list of the interpretation list database 30c, and the data may be transmitted to all the image interpretation apparatuses 20.

  Next, the operation of the image interpretation apparatus 20 will be described with reference to FIG.

  When the interpretation list transmitted from the management server 40 is received, the interpretation list is stored in the RAM 23, and further, the interpretation list is displayed on the display device of the display unit 25 in response to an instruction input by the operator (interpretation doctor). (For example, see the interpretation list screen 251 or the interpretation list screen 252 shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6) (step S20).

  When the interpretation flag and ID are transmitted from the management server 40, the interpretation flag and ID are added to the interpretation list stored in the RAM 23, and the contents of the interpretation flag are reflected in the currently displayed interpretation list. Will automatically reappear. For example, for medical image data with an interpretation flag (that is, currently being interpreted), icons (interpretation icons) as indicated by reference numerals 25a to 25c in FIG. Displayed every time.

  Here, even when the operator inputs an instruction to update the currently displayed interpretation list by clicking the “update button” indicated by reference numeral 25f in FIG. 5 with a mouse or the like, the contents of the interpretation flag are also displayed. Is displayed on the display device of the display unit 25.

  In step S20, when an interpretation instruction is input by the operator to the currently displayed interpretation list (step S21), the interpretation is performed on the medical image in which the interpretation instruction is input based on the interpretation list stored in the RAM 23. It is determined whether or not a flag is attached (step S22).

  When an interpretation flag is not attached to the medical image to which the interpretation instruction is input (step S23; No), a transmission request for the medical image is transmitted to the management server 40 (step S24), and the management server is responded to the transmission request. The medical image transmitted from 40 is displayed on the display device of the display unit 25 (step S25).

  In step S23, when an interpretation flag is attached to the medical image to which the interpretation instruction is input (step S23; Yes), a message indicating that the medical image is currently being interpreted is displayed (step S23). . For example, in FIG. 6, when the list item indicated by reference numeral 25d in the image interpretation list screen 252 is selected by the operator (that is, an image interpretation instruction is input), an image interpretation flag is displayed on the medical image of the list item. Is attached (that is, an interpretation icon is displayed in the list item), and a message indicated by reference numeral 25e in the figure is displayed as an example.

  Note that, when interpretation of medical image data is completed, if data indicating the completion of interpretation is input by the operator, the data may be transmitted to the management server 40. Further, when data indicating that the interpretation is completed and the interpretation report is generated is transmitted from the management server 40, the list item relating to the medical image data that has been interpreted from the interpretation list stored in the RAM 23 based on the data. May be automatically deleted.

As described above, for the medical image being interpreted (that is, transmitted to the image interpretation apparatus 20), the management server 40 interprets the interpretation flag indicating that the interpretation is in progress and the image interpretation apparatus of the transmission destination. The ID of the interpretation doctor who is the 20 operator is recorded in the interpretation list of the interpretation list database 30c and transmitted to all the image interpretation apparatuses 20.
When the image interpretation device 20 transmits the image interpretation flag and the image interpretation doctor ID from the management server 40, the image image interpretation device 20 acquires (or transmits) the image interpretation flag and image interpretation doctor ID from the image image interpretation device 20 in advance and stores them in the RAM 23. Add to the stored interpretation list. When an image interpretation instruction is input, the image interpretation apparatus 20 determines whether or not to display a medical image in accordance with the image interpretation instruction based on the additional interpretation flag and the ID of the image interpretation doctor.

  Therefore, since it is obvious at a glance which list item (medical image) is currently being interpreted in the interpretation list, it is possible to avoid a situation in which a plurality of interpretation doctors interpret the same list item in parallel.

  The description in the present embodiment shows an example of the medical diagnosis support system according to the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to this. The detailed configuration and detailed operation of the medical diagnosis support system 100 in the present embodiment can be appropriately changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  For example, the interpretation report is input as electronic data and stored in the interpretation report database 30b. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to a case where the interpretation report is created on a predetermined report sheet by handwriting. .

It is a figure which shows the structure of the medical diagnosis assistance system to which this invention is applied. It is a figure which shows the structure of the image interpretation apparatus shown in FIG. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the management server shown in FIG. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the image interpretation apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen of the interpretation list displayed on the display part of the image interpretation apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the other example of the display screen of the interpretation list displayed on the display part of the image interpretation apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the content of the test | inspection data used by the medical diagnosis assistance system to which this invention is applied. It is a figure which shows an example of the content of the image accompanying data used by the medical diagnosis assistance system to which this invention is applied.

Explanation of symbols

10 Modality 10a Film digitizer 10b Angiography apparatus 10c CT scanner apparatus 10d MRI apparatus 10e Nuclear medicine diagnosis apparatus 10f Ultrasound diagnosis apparatus 10g Electronic endoscope apparatus 10h CR
20 Image interpretation device 21 Control unit 22 ROM
23 RAM
24 Input unit 25 Display unit 25a First aid icon 26 Communication unit 27 Bus 30 Database 30a Image database 30b Interpretation report database 30c Interpretation list database 40 Management server 50 Inspection order system 60 Network 100 Medical diagnosis support system 251 and 252 Interpretation image designation screen

Claims (3)

A storage unit that stores medical images, a management server that manages the interpretation status of the medical images, and a list of medical images that should be interpreted according to the interpretation status acquired from the management server are selected from the list. A medical diagnosis support system in which a plurality of image reading devices that acquire and display medical images from the storage unit are connected to a network,
The image reading device includes:
When acquiring a medical image from the storage unit and interpreting, notify the management server that the medical image is being interpreted;
The management server
A medical diagnosis support system that, when there is a medical image being interpreted, notifies the plurality of image interpretation devices that the medical image is being interpreted. The image interpretation device comprises:
2. The medical diagnosis support system according to claim 1, wherein a mark indicating that the image is being interpreted is attached to the list corresponding to the medical image that has been notified that the image is being interpreted. The image interpretation device comprises:
After the interpretation ends, the management server is notified that the interpretation is complete,
3. The medical diagnosis support system according to claim 1, wherein the management server notifies the plurality of image interpretation devices to delete the medical image notified of the completion of the interpretation from the list.

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