JP2008077610A - Medical image providing device, medical image reproduction device and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a user's labor hour in query for medical image data. <P>SOLUTION: A server 3 acquires a user ID of the user that is a providing destination of a medium 9. The server extracts a doctor name for each doctor type from header information of a selected medical image, and generates a contact table associating the doctor name with a mail address. A query destination group by doctor type such as referential doctor or image reading doctor is selected based on the acquired user ID, and a query destination table is generated in association with the user ID and stored in the medium 9 together with the contact table. A client 5 acquires the user ID of the log-in user, reads the query destination group associated with the user ID from the query destination table, and extracts the doctor name of a doctor shown in the query destination group from the header information of the medical image. The mail address associated with the doctor name is read from the contact table, and set to mail data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention provides a medical image providing apparatus for transferring medical image data to an external device by outputting the medical image data to various media, and a reproduction display of the medical image data transferred from the external device via various media The present invention relates to a medical image reproduction apparatus that has communication means for an external device and a program.

  In the medical field, digitizing and handling medical images has recently become mainstream. Specifically, it is digitized by a medical image generation apparatus (hereinafter referred to as “modality”) such as a CT (Computed Tomography) apparatus, an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) apparatus, etc., and PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System for medical application) It is stored and managed by a so-called medical image management system.

  The medical image is digitized as medical image data including patient information and examination information in a data format conforming to the DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine) standard. DICOM is a standard for communication and storage format of medical images, and intercompatibility between different medical devices is ensured by complying with this standard.

  However, the current situation is that medical images cannot always be properly communicated even if they conform to the DICOM standard. This is because interpretation of the DICOM standard is left to each vendor (manufacturer), and the support range of the DICOM standard may be different for each vendor. Therefore, although DICOM is set as a standard, there has been a problem that medical images cannot be communicated between medical devices of different vendors, or even if they can be communicated, the medical images cannot be displayed.

  Therefore, in recent years, IHE (Integrating Healthcare Enterprise) and IHE-J for applying standards such as the DICOM standard and the medical information standardization standard (Health Level 7; hereinafter referred to as “HL7”) in accordance with the workflow in the clinical field. A guideline called (IHE-Japan) has been established and is in operation. Hereinafter, IHE and IHE-J are collectively referred to as “IHE”.

  By complying with this IHE, it is possible to improve the intercommunication between medical devices and to construct a low-cost system by a multi-vendor. Such standardization of medical images facilitates the provision of medical image data via a network. In addition, as a method for providing medical image data, there is a method of transferring data using various media such as an MO disk or a CD-R, and a data structure for storing medical image data on the media is also defined by IHE. . This makes it easy to provide medical image data using the media.

In addition, when other users of PACS departments, medical institutions, or patients receiving medical image data have questions about the medical image, communication means such as telephone, facsimile, and e-mail are generally used. ing. As a technique using electronic mail, a technique is known in which a question including medical information is transmitted by electronic mail to a transmission destination selected from a plurality of transmission destinations (see Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-30338 A

  By the way, medical staff such as doctors and technicians who were involved in a single medical image due to diversification of modalities, etc., inquiries that performed the imaging engineer who took the medical image, the interpreting doctor who performed the interpretation, the inquiry of the medical image It is as complicated as a doctor. For this reason, the user must appropriately determine to which medical staff it is appropriate to ask a question about a medical image.

  However, the question destination is usually different for each user, such as a patient as an inquiry doctor, an inquiry doctor as an interpretation doctor, and an interpretation doctor as an imaging technician. For this reason, when a question destination for a certain medical image is simply set to one medical staff, the questions are concentrated on the medical staff, which is not practical in operation.

  Although it is easy to manage a database of medical staff involved in medical image data in PACS, if the data is transferred to an external PACS or medical institution via a network or media as described above, the destination It is difficult to determine the medical staff involved in medical images.

  Further, in the technique of Patent Document 1, a desired transmission destination can be selected from a plurality of transmission destinations, but a user determines which medical staff among the transmission destinations is suitable as a question destination. There must be. For this reason, the user who has been provided with the medical image has to inquire in advance about the medical staff of the question destination or to investigate the contact address to the medical staff, which is very complicated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the labor of the user when making a question about medical image data.

In order to solve the above problems, the invention described in claim 1
In a medical image providing apparatus for transferring medical image data to an external device by outputting the medical image data to various media,
Storage means for storing identification information for each medical staff and contact information of the medical staff in association with each other;
Obtaining means for obtaining user information for each predetermined user type;
Extracting means for extracting identification information of the medical staff included in the medical image data from the medical image data;
Contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the extraction means is read from the storage means, and a contact table generating means for generating a contact table that associates the contact information with the identification information;
Question destination table generation means for selecting classification information for classifying the medical staff based on the user type of the user information acquired by the acquisition means, and generating a question destination table associated with the classification information and the user information; ,
An output means for outputting the contact table and the question table to the various media together with the medical image data;
It is characterized by having.

The invention described in claim 2
In a medical image providing apparatus for transferring medical image data to an external device by outputting the medical image data to various media,
Storage means for storing identification information for each medical staff and contact information of the medical staff in association with each other;
Obtaining means for obtaining user information for each predetermined user type;
Extracting means for extracting identification information of the medical staff included in the medical image data from the medical image data;
Contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the extracting means is read from the storage means, and a contact table generating means for generating a contact table that associates the identification information with the contact information;
Question destination table generating means for generating a question destination table in which the user information acquired by the acquisition means and the user type of the user information are associated with each other;
An output means for outputting the contact table and the question table to the various media together with the medical image data;
It is characterized by having.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the contact information includes a mail address for each medical staff.

The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The output means includes
It has a writing means for writing and outputting the contact address table, the question address table and the medical image data to a portable electronic medium.

The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 4,
The writing means includes
The contact address table, the question address table, and the medical image data are written in the portable electronic medium in a data structure corresponding to IHE.

The invention described in claim 6
In a medical image reproduction apparatus that performs reproduction display of medical image data transferred from an external device via various media and has communication means for the external device,
A contact table in which identification information of medical staff and contact information of the medical staff are associated, and a question destination table in which classification information for classifying medical staff and user information are associated together with the medical image data Medical information acquisition means for acquiring from the various media;
User information acquisition means for acquiring user information in accordance with user input;
Identification information for reading out the classification information associated with the user information acquired by the user information acquisition means from the question destination table and extracting the identification information of the medical staff classified by the classification information from the medical image data Extraction means;
Setting means for reading out contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the identification information extraction means from the contact table and setting the contact information as a communication destination of the communication means;
It is characterized by having.

The invention described in claim 7
In a medical image reproduction apparatus that performs reproduction display of medical image data transferred from an external device via various media and has communication means for the external device,
The contact table in which the identification information of the medical staff and the contact information of the medical staff are associated, and the question destination table in which the user information and the user type of the user information are associated with the medical image data. Medical information acquisition means for acquiring from various media;
User information acquisition means for acquiring user information in accordance with user input;
A classification information selection means for reading out the user type associated with the user information acquired by the user information acquisition means from the question destination table, and selecting classification information for classifying the medical staff based on the user information;
Identification information extraction means for extracting identification information of the medical staff classified by the classification information selected by the classification information selection means from the medical image data;
Setting means for reading out contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the identification information extraction means from the contact table and setting the contact information as a communication destination of the communication means;
It is characterized by having.

The invention according to claim 8 is the invention according to claim 6 or 7,
The communication means includes an electronic mailer that transmits mail data to the external device,
The contact information includes an email address for each medical staff,
The setting means includes mail setting means for reading the mail address from the contact table and setting the mail address as a destination of the mail data.

The invention according to claim 9 is the invention according to claim 8,
Further comprising incidental information extracting means for extracting incidental information included in the medical image data,
The email setting means
It has a text setting means for setting the supplementary information extracted by the supplementary information extracting means to the text of the mail data.

The invention according to claim 10 is the invention according to any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein
The medical information acquisition means includes
It has a reading means which reads and acquires the contact address table, the question destination table, and the medical image data from a portable electronic medium.

The program according to claim 11 is:
Computer
Storage means for storing identification information for each medical staff and contact information of the medical staff in association with each other;
Acquisition means for acquiring user information for each predetermined user type;
Extraction means for extracting identification information of the medical staff included in the medical image data from the medical image data;
Contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the extracting means is read from the storage means, and a contact table generating means for generating a contact table that associates the contact information with the identification information;
Question destination table generating means for selecting classification information for classifying the medical staff based on the user type of the user information acquired by the acquisition means, and generating a question destination table associated with the classification information and the user information;
Output means for outputting the contact table and the question destination table together with the medical image data to various media;
It is characterized by making it function as.

The program according to claim 12 is:
Computer
Storage means for storing identification information for each medical staff and contact information of the medical staff in association with each other;
Acquisition means for acquiring user information for each predetermined user type;
Extraction means for extracting identification information of the medical staff included in the medical image data from the medical image data;
Contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the extraction means is read from the storage means, and a contact table generation means for generating a contact table that associates the identification information with the contact information;
Question destination table generating means for generating a question destination table in which the user information acquired by the acquisition means and the user type of the user information are associated with each other;
Output means for outputting the contact table and the question destination table together with the medical image data to various media;
It is characterized by making it function as.

The program according to claim 13 is:
Computer
Various types of contact information tables in which identification information of medical staff and contact information of the medical staff are associated, and question tables in which classification information for classifying medical staff and user information are associated, together with medical image data. Medical information acquisition means for acquiring from a medium;
User information acquisition means for acquiring user information in accordance with user input;
Identification information for reading out the classification information associated with the user information acquired by the user information acquisition means from the question destination table and extracting the identification information of the medical staff classified by the classification information from the medical image data Extraction means,
Setting means for reading contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the identification information extraction means from the contact table and setting the contact information as a communication destination of the communication means;
It is characterized by making it function as.

The program according to claim 14 is:
Computer
Various media, together with medical image data, a contact table in which identification information of medical staff and contact information of the medical staff are associated, and a question table in which user information and a user type of the user information are associated Medical information acquisition means to acquire from
User information acquisition means for acquiring user information in accordance with user input;
Classification information selection means for reading out the user type associated with the user information acquired by the user information acquisition means from the question destination table, and selecting classification information for classifying the medical staff based on the user information;
Identification information extraction means for extracting identification information of the medical staff classified by the classification information selected by the classification information selection means from the medical image data;
Setting means for reading contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the identification information extraction means from the contact table and setting the contact information as a communication destination of the communication means;
It is characterized by making it function as.

  According to the present invention, the medical image reproducing apparatus acquires the contact address table and the question address table together with the medical image data through various media, and identifies the medical staff based on the user information input by the user and the question address table. Information is extracted from the medical image data, and contact information associated with the identification information is read from the contact table and set as a communication destination of the communication means.

  For this reason, when the user of the data transfer destination asks a question about the medical image data, it is possible to save time and effort for determining which medical staff is suitable as the question destination, making an inquiry, and investigating the contact information of the medical staff. Therefore, since it is possible to easily ask a question by communicating with the contact information of an appropriate medical staff, it is possible to reduce the user's trouble when making a question about medical image data.

  The medical image providing apparatus may select classification information for classifying medical staff based on the user type of the acquired user information, and generate the question destination table by associating the classification information with the user information. Thereby, in the medical image reproduction device, the classification information associated with the user information input by the user is read from the question destination table, and the identification information of the medical staff classified by the classification information is extracted from the medical image data, The contact information associated with the identification information in the contact table can be set as the communication destination of the communication means.

  The medical image providing apparatus may generate the question destination table by associating the acquired user information with the user type of the user information. Thereby, in the medical image reproduction device, the user type associated with the user information input by the user is read from the question destination table, and the medical staff identification information classified by the classification information based on the user information is used as the medical image data. The contact information associated with the identification information in the contact table can be set as the communication destination of the communication means.

  The contact information may be a mail address. In the medical image reproduction apparatus, the mail address is set as a mail data destination. Thereby, it is possible to save the user's operational trouble of sequentially selecting and setting the destination of the electronic mailer.

  In addition, the contact address table, the question address table, and the medical image data may be written in a portable electronic medium, and the data may be transferred to the medical image reproduction apparatus. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce time and effort of the user of the data transfer destination when transferring medical image data even when offline without using a network and inquiring about the medical image data.

  Further, the contact address table, the question address table, and the medical image data may be written in the portable electronic medium with a data structure corresponding to IHE. Thereby, if it is a medical image reproducing apparatus corresponding to IHE, the data written in the portable electronic medium can be read easily.

  Further, in the medical image reproduction apparatus, incidental information included in medical image data may be extracted and set in the text of mail data. As a result, it is possible to save the user from having to input incidental information regarding the medical image data into the mail data.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the medical image providing apparatus of the present invention is applied to the server 3 in FIG. 2 and the medical image reproducing apparatus is applied to the client 5 in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.

[Outline of medical information provision system]
First, an outline of the medical information providing system S shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of the medical information providing system S. According to FIG. 1, the medical information providing system S is configured such that a PACS 1 for each hospital and a general PC 11 for patients can communicate with each other via a public network N1. In FIG. 1, PACS 1 </ b> A is disposed in hospital A, and PACS 1 </ b> B is disposed in hospital B.

  Medical image data stored and managed by the PACS 1 is transferred to the PACS 1 of another hospital or the general PC 11 of the patient via the public network N 1 or the media 9. The data structure when data is stored in the medium 9 is determined in advance by the IHE. Since each PACS 1 and the general PC 11 support this data structure, it is easy to read medical image data from the medium 9. .

  Even if the PACS 1 or the general PC 11 is not compatible with the DICOM standard or IHE, an application program corresponding to the DICOM standard or the IHE is written in the medium 9 and the PACS 1 or the general PC 11 is activated. Thus, medical image data can be read even at the data transfer destination.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the system configuration of PACS1. According to FIG. 2, the PACS 1 is configured so that data communication is possible by connecting the server 3 and the client 5 via the in-hospital network N3. The in-hospital network N3 is an in-hospital dedicated network to which various modalities M and a film output device 7 are connected. The hospital network N3 is provided with a firewall or the like to ensure security with the public line network N1.

  Modality M (M1, M2,...) Is a CT, CR, MRI, mammography apparatus, ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, etc., and the data signal of an image obtained by imaging according to the operation of a radiographer conforms to the DICOM standard. Medical image data is generated by converting the data into conforming digital data. The modality M transmits the generated medical image data to the server 3.

  For example, the CR irradiates a subject with radiation and causes the plate-like stimulable phosphor to absorb the radiation transmitted through the subject. Then, by exciting the stimulable phosphor while scanning with laser light, for example, the radiation energy accumulated in the stimulable phosphor is emitted, and the radiation image obtained by photoelectrically converting the emitted light The data signal is digitally converted to generate image data of the subject.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the data structure of the medical image data D1. According to FIG. 3A, the medical image data D1 includes header information D3 and image data D5 as supplementary information. As shown in FIG. 3B, the header information D3 includes patient information D30, examination information D32, series information D34, and detailed image information D36, and is described according to, for example, the DICOM standard.

  The header information D3 is set by the modality M when generating a medical image based on order information issued from HIS (Hospital Information System) or RIS (Radiological Information System). Note that the header information D3 shown in FIG. 3B is a schematic representation of the main data in this embodiment, and other data is not shown.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, patient information D30 includes patient information LID (Link Identification), patient information (ASCII, kana, kanji), patient ID, date of birth, sex, and other information related to the patient. It is included. The LID is an identifier for associating various types of information included in the header information D3. The patient information LID individually identifies the patient information D30 and associates the patient information D30 with the examination information D32.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, the examination information D32 includes examination information LID, examination instance UID (Unique Identification) issued for image management, patient information LID associated with examination information D32, Various information related to the inspection such as the inspection date and inspection ID are included. The inspection information LID individually identifies the inspection information D32 and associates the inspection information D32 with the series information D34 and the like.

  As shown in FIG. 4C, the series information D34 includes the series information LID, the series instance UID issued for image management, the examination information LID associated with the series information D34, and the medical image. It includes a name indicating the type of the modality M taken, the series number of the modality M, the modality M such as the examination site, and various types of information relating to imaging. The series information LID individually identifies the series information D34 and associates the series information D34 with the image detailed information D36 and the like.

  The examination information D32 includes identification information of medical staff such as a referring doctor name D320, a doctor name in charge D322, and an interpreting doctor name D324, and the series information D34 includes identification information such as an implementing doctor name D340 and an operator name D342. Is done. The identification information is information for identifying medical staff such as doctors and engineers involved in photographing, interpretation, and inquiry of medical images. The types of doctors (hereinafter referred to as “doctor types”) include an inquiry doctor who makes an inquiry about a medical image, an interpreting doctor who makes an interpretation of a medical image, and an implementing doctor who gives an instruction to perform the taking of a medical image.

  In the present embodiment, the names of doctors involved in the medical image data D1 are described as staff information. However, the names of engineers and other medical staff may be used as identification information, and are uniquely assigned to each medical staff. ID may be used as identification information.

  As shown in FIG. 4D, the detailed image information D36 includes an SOP (Service Object Pair) instance UID configured by combining the detailed image information LID, the series instance UID, and the address indicating the file storage location of the medical image. It is comprised including. The detailed image information LID individually identifies the detailed image information D36, and associates the detailed image information D36 with other information.

  The image detailed information D36 further includes image information such as series information LID associated with the image detailed information D36, an image number assigned when the medical image is generated, and an image time when the image is generated. It includes various information related to image generation.

  The server 3 receives the medical image data D1 transmitted from the modality M, and stores and stores the medical image data D1 in a medical image DB 340 and a basic information DB 341 described later, thereby managing the medical image data D1 as a database. Further, the user can select desired medical image data D1 and write it on the medium 9, and the medical image data D1 can be transferred to the PACS1 or the general PC 11 of another hospital via the medium 9.

  The client 5 is a terminal device that includes an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or the like and reproduces and displays a medical image based on the medical image data D1. When the user designates medical image data D1 to be reproduced and displayed, the medical image data D1 is read from the server 3 and the media 9 and reproduced and displayed.

  The film output device 7 is an image forming device configured by a film digitizer or the like, and forms and outputs a medical image based on the medical image data D1 on a recording medium. When the user designates medical image data D1 to be output as a film, the medical image data D1 is read from the server 3 or the medium 9, and a medical image is formed on a recording medium such as a heat-sensitive film and output.

[Functional configuration of server and client]
Next, functional configurations of the server 3 and the client 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. The server 3 and the client 5 can be configured by a general-purpose computer, and the main configurations of the respective functional units are substantially the same. For this reason, the functional configuration on the client 5 side will be described with a focus on differences from the server 3.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the server 3 includes a control unit 30, an input unit 31, a display unit 32, a communication unit 33, a storage unit 34, and an I / F unit 35. The control unit 30 is configured by a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like, and controls the operation of each functional unit and the data input / output between the functional units. This is a control unit that manages and controls the server 3 in an integrated manner.

  Specifically, a program stored in the ROM or the storage unit 34 is read according to an operation signal input from the input unit 31, and processing according to the program is executed. Then, based on the processing result, update of the display screen of the display unit 32, storage of data in the storage unit 34, data communication with an external device via the communication unit 33, and the like are performed.

  The input unit 31 includes various key groups such as cursor keys and numeric keys, and a pointing device such as a mouse and a touch panel. The input unit 31 outputs an operation signal corresponding to the key pressed by the user and an operation signal corresponding to the coordinate position on the screen designated by the pointing device to the control unit 30.

  The display unit 32 is configured by a CRT (Cathode-ray Tube), an LCD, or the like, and displays a display screen based on the control of the control unit 30, reproduces and displays the medical image data D1, and the like. The communication unit 33 is configured by a LAN interface, a modem, or the like, and is a functional unit that performs data communication with an external device via the hospital network N3 or the public line network N1. The I / F unit 35 is a functional unit that performs data communication with the media drive 40 based on a predetermined communication method, and includes, for example, a USB or a SCSI.

  The media drive 40 is a device that reads / writes data from / to various media, and writes / reads data to / from a CD-R or CD-RW if it is a CD drive, and to / from an MO disk if it is an MO drive. In the present embodiment, a CD-R or MO disk will be described as an example of a portable storage medium, but other electronic media such as a DVD-R, DVD-RW, and HDD may be employed.

  When the medical image data D1 is transferred to the PACS1 of an external medical institution or the patient's general PC 11 via the media 9, the email address of the doctor related to the medical image data D1 and the medical image data D1 is also included in the media 9 Is written to.

  The storage unit 34 is a functional unit that reads / writes data from / to a magnetic or optical storage medium, and includes an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or the like. As shown in FIG. 6A, the storage unit 34 stores a medical image DB 340, a basic information DB 341, an authentication information DB 342, an address book DB 346, a contact table 349, and a question destination table 352.

  The medical image DB 340 is a database that stores image data D5 included in the medical image data D1 received from the modality M in a searchable manner. The basic information DB 341 is a database that stores searchable header information D3 included in the medical image data D1 received from the modality M.

  When receiving the medical image data D1, the control unit 30 separates the header information D3 and the image data D5, and stores them in the basic information DB 341 and the medical image DB 340, respectively. At this time, the header information D3 and the image data D5 are associated with each other by adding address information or the like for associating the paired header information D3 and the image data D5.

  The authentication information DB 342 is a database that stores user information used for user authentication. Specifically, the user ID 343, a password 344, and a user type 345 are associated and stored as user information. The user type is information indicating the type of user such as a general patient or what kind of medical staff (reference doctor, interpretation doctor, etc.).

  The address book DB 346 is a database that stores contact information for each medical staff, and specifically stores and stores a doctor name 347 and a mail address 348 in association with each other. The authentication information DB 342 and the address book DB 346 are registered in advance by a user operation.

  The contact table 349 is a data table that stores a doctor name 350 and a mail address 351 in association with each other as shown in FIG. When the doctor name for each doctor type is extracted from the header information D3 of the medical image data D1 designated by the user, the control unit 30 reads the mail address 351 associated with the doctor name from the address book DB 346. The read mail address 351 and the doctor name 350 are stored in the contact table 349 in association with each other.

  The question destination table 352 is a data table that stores user information 353 including a user ID 354 and a password 355 and a question destination group 356 in association with each other as shown in FIG. The question destination group 356 as medical staff type information is a doctor type as a question destination for the user's medical image indicated by the user ID 354.

  When writing the medical image data D <b> 1 to the medium 9, the control unit 30 requests the user to input the user ID of the partner who provides the medium 9. Then, the password 344 associated with the input user ID is read from the authentication information DB 342 and stored in the questionee table 352.

  Further, the user type 345 associated with the user ID is read from the authentication information DB 342, and the questionee group 356 is selected and set based on the user type 345. Specifically, when the user type 345 is “general patient”, the inquiry group 356 is selected as “inquiring doctor”, and when it is “inquiring doctor”, “reading doctor” is selected. When the user indicated by the user type 345 asks a question, the doctor type that is appropriate as the question destination is stored in association as the question destination group 356.

  The control unit 30 stores the contact address table 349 and the question destination table 352 created in this way in the medium 9. The data structure for storing data in the medium 9 is preferably a data structure as shown in FIG.

  The data structure shown in FIG. 8 is a profile called PDI (Portable Data for Imaging) related to data operation when medical image data D1 is stored in the medium 9, and is defined by IHE. According to FIG. 8, a DICOMDIR file 90, a DICOM directory 91, an OTHER file 92, and an OTHER directory 93 are stored in the root directory of the medium 9.

  The DICOM directory 91 is a directory for storing medical image data D1 conforming to the DICOM standard, and an index of the directory is stored in the DICOMDIR file 90. Storage of the DICOMDIR file 90 and the DICOM directory 91 is an essential requirement for PDI.

  The OTHER directory 93 is a directory for storing an application program 94 and a setting file 97 necessary for executing the application program 94. The OTHER file 92 stores an index of the OTHER directory 93, an initial setting for automatically starting the application program 94, and the like.

  As the application program 94, a browsing application 95 and a simple mailer 96 are stored. The browsing application 95 is an application program for executing the processing of the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, and performs reproduction display of the medical image data D1, setting of a mail address of a question destination for the medical image data D1, and the like.

  The simple mailer 96 is an application program for sending and receiving electronic mail. The simple mailer 96 only needs to have a simplified function of a mailer used in a general personal computer, and a known technique can be appropriately employed.

  As the setting file 97, the above-described contact address table 349, question destination table 352, and default address table 100 are stored. The default address table 100 is a data table in which a doctor's mail address is associated with each preset doctor type.

  When the medical image data D1 is stored in the medium 9, the control unit 30 generates a data structure as shown in FIG. 8 in the medium 9, and stores various data. By storing the medical image data D1 and the like in such a data structure defined by the IHE, the medical image data D1 can be easily read out if it is a PACS1 of another medical institution that supports IHE or a general PC 11 of a patient. Will be able to do.

  Next, the data configuration of the storage unit 54 of the client 5 will be described with reference to FIG. According to FIG. 6B, the storage unit 54 of the client 5 stores a user ID 540 and mail data 541.

  The user ID 540 is input according to the operation of the input unit 51 when the user logs in. The mail data 541 includes a destination 542, a subject 543, and a text 544, and is created by an electronic mailer such as a simple mailer 96 or a standard mailer installed in the client 5.

  When the control unit 50 of the client 5 detects that the media 9 is loaded in the media drive 60, the control unit 50 activates the browsing application 95 according to the activation setting of the application program 94 of the OTHER file 92. At the time of activation, the user is requested to input the user ID 540, and the user ID 540 is acquired.

  Then, when the medical image data D1 selected by the user is read from the media 9 and reproduced and displayed, and an instruction is input to ask a question on the medical image, the simple mailer 96 or the standard mailer is activated. . At this time, based on the user ID 540 and the doctor name included in the header information D3 of the medical image data D1, the control unit 50 reads out an email address of an appropriate doctor as a user's question destination from the contact table 349, The mail data 541 is set as the destination 542. Details of the process for reading out the mail address will be described later.

[Specific operation of server and client]
Next, specific operations of the server 3 and the client 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of processing performed by the control unit 30 of the server 3, and FIGS. 10 and 11 are flowcharts of processing performed by the control unit 50 of the client 5. 12 to 14 are examples of display screens of the server 3 and the client 5.

  First, a specific operation of the server 3 will be described. The control unit 30 of the server 3 displays a medical image list screen 320 as shown in FIG. 12A on the display unit 32 based on the basic information DB 341 stored in the storage unit 34. The medical image list screen 320 is a display screen that displays a list of contents of the header information D3 included in the medical image data D1. The image data D5 of the medical image selected from the list display is read from the medical image DB 340 and reproduced and displayed.

  The medical image list screen 320 includes a media write button 321. When the user presses / specifies the media write button 321, a media provider selection screen 322 as shown in FIG. 12B is displayed on the display unit 32.

  The user operates the user type selection button 323 on the media provision destination selection screen 322 to select a user type such as a general patient, an inquiry doctor, and an interpretation doctor, and the user IDs displayed in a list corresponding to the user type are displayed. A desired user ID is selected as a media providing destination. The media provision destination selection screen 322 in FIG. 12B shows an example of a state in which “sasaki” of the general patient and “andou” of the inquiry doctor are already selected as the media provision destination.

  The control unit 30 acquires the user ID of the media provision destination selected on the media provision destination selection screen 322 on which the OK button 324 is designated, and temporarily stores it in the RAM (step A1). Then, selection of a medical image on the medical image list screen 320 is accepted (step A3).

  The control unit 30 reads out the header information D3 of the selected medical image from the basic information DB 341, and extracts a doctor name for each doctor type (step A5). Then, the mail address of the extracted doctor name is read from the address book DB 346, and is temporarily stored in the RAM in association with the doctor name (step A7).

  After the process of step A7, the control unit 30 determines whether another medical image has been selected (step A9). If it is determined that another medical image has been selected (step A9; Yes), the process proceeds to step A3, and the processes in steps A3 to A7 are repeated. For example, when it is determined that the media writing button 321 is pressed again and no other medical image is selected (step A9; No), the doctor name temporarily stored in the RAM and the mail address are associated with each other and communicated. A destination table 349 is generated (step A11).

  Then, the control unit 30 reads the password 344 associated with the user ID acquired in step A1 from the authentication information DB 342, and generates the question destination table 352 by associating the user information with the question destination group 356 ( Step A13). As described above, for example, by referring to the general patient user information 353 as a questionee group 356 and associating doctor user information 353 as the questionee group 356 with an inquiry doctor as a questionee group 356, FIG. ) Is generated as shown in FIG.

  Next, the header information D3 and the image data D5 of the selected medical image are read from the medical image DB 340 and the basic information DB 341, respectively, to restore the medical image data D1, and the medical image data D1 and the generated contact table 349 and The question destination table 352 is written in the medium 9 (step A15). Furthermore, the control unit 30 writes the simple mailer 96 and the browsing application 95 in the medium 9 (step A17), and ends the process of the flowchart shown in FIG.

  Next, a specific operation of the client 5 will be described. First, when the control unit 50 of the client 5 detects the loading of the media 9 into the media drive 60 via the I / F unit 55 (step B1), the viewing application 95 is based on the OTHER file 92 stored in the media 9. Is started, and the processing of steps B3 to B45 is performed.

  When the viewing application 95 is activated, the control unit 50 displays a login screen 520 as shown in FIG. 13A on the display unit 52 (step B3). Then, the user ID and password input on the login screen 520 are acquired (step B7). At this time, the acquired user ID is stored in the storage unit 54.

  Next, the control unit 50 performs user authentication by comparing the input user ID and password with the user information in the questionee table 352 stored in the medium 9 (step B7), and the user authentication is OK. In the case (step B7; Yes), based on the header information D3 of the medical image data D1 stored in the medium 9, the medical image selection screen 522 as shown in FIG.

  The medical image selection screen 522 is a display screen for selecting a medical image displayed based on the browsing application 95, and includes a display area 523 for patient information and examination information and a display area 524 for series information. In the series information display area 524, the series instance ID for each series, the type of modality, and the like are displayed, and the image number 525 of the medical image belonging to the series is displayed.

  When the image number 525 is selected by the user, the control unit 50 reads the medical image data D1 indicated by the image number 525 from the medium 9, and displays the medical image as shown in the reproduction screen 526 in FIG. 52 is displayed (step B9). The reproduction screen 526 is a screen for reproducing and displaying a medical image, and includes a medical image 527, accompanying information 528, and a mailer activation button 529.

  When the control unit 50 detects that the mailer activation button 529 is designated / pressed by the operation of the input unit 51 (step B11; Yes), a standard mailer is installed from a program installed in the client 5 in advance. It is determined whether or not (step B13). If it is determined that the standard mailer is installed (step B13; Yes), the standard mailer is activated (step B15), and if it is determined that the standard mailer is not installed (step B13; No). Then, the simple mailer 96 stored in the medium 9 is read and activated (step B17).

  Then, the control unit 50 causes the activated electronic mailer to create mail data 541 and displays a mail creation screen 530 as shown in FIG. 14B on the display unit 52 (step B19). Next, the question destination group 356 associated with the user ID 540 is read from the question destination table 352 (step B21), and when the read question destination group 356 is “inquiring physician” (step B23; Yes), display is performed. The inquiry doctor name D320 is extracted from the header information D3 of the medical image inside (step B25).

  At this time, if the extracted inquiry doctor name D320 is invalid data, it is determined that the doctor name is not set (Step B27; No), and the default mail address of the inquiry doctor is read from the default address table 100 (Step S27). B31). When the inquiry doctor name D320 is valid data (step B27; Yes), the mail address corresponding to the doctor name is read from the contact table 349 (step B29).

  On the other hand, if the questionee group 356 read in step B21 is “interpretation doctor” (step B23; No), the interpretation doctor name D324 is extracted from the header information D3 of the medical image being displayed (step B33).

  At this time, if the extracted interpretation doctor name D324 is invalid data, it is determined that the doctor name has not been set (step B35; No), and the default mail address of the interpretation doctor is read from the default address table 100 (step S35). B39). If the interpretation doctor name D324 is valid data (step B37; Yes), the mail address 351 corresponding to the doctor name is read from the contact table 349 (step B29).

  When the control unit 50 reads the mail address 351 in step B29, B31, B37, or B39, the control unit 50 sets the mail address 351 as the destination 542 of the mail data 541 (step B41).

  For example, if the user ID of the login user is “sasaki”, the question destination group 356 associated with “sasaki” in the question destination table 352 of FIG. The inquiry doctor name D320 is extracted from D3. If the inquiry doctor name D320 is “hayashi”, the mail address 351 associated with the doctor name is read from the contact table 349, and the address field 531 of the mail creation screen 530 in FIG. Set to

  After the processing of step B41, the control unit 50 sets the header information D3 of the medical image being displayed in the text 544 of the mail data 541 by applying it to a predetermined fixed sentence (step A43). For example,

= Question about 'modality' image of 'patient name'('patientID') =
Date of birth: 'Date of birth'
Gender: 'Gender'
Inspection date: 'Inspection date'
Inspection time: 'Inspection time'
<Question>

Is set in advance, and header information D3 such as a patient name and a patient ID is applied to a column surrounded by ‘and’ of the fixed message. Thereby, a fixed phrase including the header information D3 is set in the text field 534 of the mail creation screen 530 of FIG. 14B.

  Then, the subject 543 and the body 544 of the mail data 541 are updated according to the user's editing operation on the mail creation screen 530, and the mail data 541 is transmitted to the mail address set in the destination 542 (step B45).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the server 3 stores the medical image data D1 in the medium 9, the question destination in which the question destination group 356 based on the user type of the user of the media providing destination is stored for each user ID 354. A table 352 and a contact table 349 are stored.

  On the other hand, on the client 5 side, when the electronic mailer is activated during the reproduction and display of the medical image data D1 stored in the medium 9, the doctor type indicated by the questionee table 352 associated with the user ID of the login user is displayed. The doctor name is extracted from the header information D3, the mail address corresponding to the doctor name is read from the contact table 349, and set as the destination 542 of the mail data 541.

  For this reason, for example, when a general patient logs in, the email address of the referring physician who referred to the medical image is set, and when the referring physician logs in, the email address of the interpreting physician who interpreted the medical image is set. The Therefore, the logged-in user does not need to perform a cumbersome operation such as inquiring which doctor should send the question email regarding the medical image to the doctor, or searching for the doctor's email address. Can do.

  In addition, since the basic information included in the header information D3 is applied to a predetermined fixed sentence and set in the text 544 of the mail data 541, the user does not bother to input information on the medical image into the text of the mail. May be. Therefore, it is possible to save the user's trouble at the time of creating the mail.

[Modification]
The embodiment described above is an example to which the present invention is applied, and the applicable range is not limited to the above example. For example, although it has been described that the mail address of the doctor of the appropriate question destination is set using the question destination table 352 in which the question destination group 356 is associated with the user ID 354, the question destination table 352a as shown in FIG. It is good also as using.

  The question destination table 352a illustrated in FIG. 15 is a data table that stores the user information 353 and the user type 357 in association with each other. The control unit 30 of the server 3 reads the user type 345 associated with the user ID input as the media providing destination from the authentication information DB 342 and stores it in the questionee table 352a in association with the user ID 354.

  The control unit 50 of the client 5 loaded with the media 9 reads out the user type 357 associated with the user ID 540 of the logged-in user from the question destination table 352a in step B21, and is a referrer whether the logged-in user is a general patient. To identify. At this time, if the logged-in user is identified as a general patient, the doctor type of the inquiry destination is selected as the inquiry doctor (step B23; Yes), the inquiry doctor name D320 is extracted from the header information D3, and the mail address 351 is read from the contact table 349.

  If the logged-in user is identified as the referring doctor, the doctor type of the questioned doctor is selected as the interpreting doctor (step B23; No), the interpreting doctor name D324 is extracted from the header information D3, and the mail address 351 is set. Read from the contact table 349. As described above, the question destination table 352a in which the user type 357 is associated with the user information 353 is generated, and the email address 351 of the question destination doctor is set based on the question destination table 352a. The same effect as the embodiment can be obtained.

  Further, although the medical image data D1 has been described as being transferred via the media 9, it may be transferred via the public network N1. In this case, by transmitting data such as the contact address table 349 and the question destination table 352 together with the medical image data D1 to which data is transferred, the client 5 side reads out the mail address 351 in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment, and mail data 541. Can be set to

  In addition, although it has been described that the client 5 performs the processing according to the flowcharts illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11 to read and set the mail address 351 from the medium 9, for example, the general PC 11 performs similar processing to perform the mail. An address may be set, or may be performed on the server 3 side in the same PACS 1.

  In addition, the browsing application 95 is stored in the medium 9 and the browsing application 95 is sequentially read at the loading destination of the medium 9 and the processing of the flowcharts of FIGS. 10 and 11 is performed. 3, the browsing application 95 may be installed.

  Further, the header information D3 is set in a predetermined fixed sentence and set in the text 544. However, for example, a fixed sentence of the subject 543 may be determined in advance and basic information may be applied to the fixed sentence. . Thereby, the trouble of inputting the user's subject 543 can be saved.

  Further, the header information D3 applied to the subject 543 and the text 544 is not limited to the above-described ones. For example, the patient comment of the patient information D30 and the test instance UID of the test information D32, the test comment, the patient's height, and weight shown in FIG. Other items such as the SOP instance UID of the image detailed information D36 may be set, and these items may be appropriately changed by the user.

  In addition, although it has been described that a mail address is applied as contact information, a telephone number or a FAX number may be applied. For example, when a FAX number is applied as the contact information, the server 3 generates a contact table 349 in which the FAX number is associated with the doctor name 350 and stores it in the media 9, and the client 5 is the user ID of the login user. The FAX number is read from the contact table 349 in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment based on the above.

  Alternatively, the document creation software may be activated to set a fixed sentence in which the header information D3 is applied as described above in the document data, and the document data may be transmitted to the FAX number via the communication unit 53. . In addition, when applying the FAX number, a known FAX modem is applied to the communication unit 53. When applying a telephone number, a modem is applied to the communication unit 53, and a telephone is connected to the modem. By doing so, it becomes possible to ask a question about a medical image via other communication means such as a facsimile or a telephone.

An example of the system block diagram of a medical information provision system. An example of a PACS system configuration diagram. The figure which shows the data structural example of medical image data. The figure which shows the data structural example of header information. The block diagram which shows an example of a function structure of a server and a client. (A) is a memory | storage part of a server, (b) is a figure which shows the data structural example of the memory | storage part of a client. (A) is a contact address table, (b) is a figure which shows the example of a data structure of a question address table. The figure which shows an example of the data structure of the medium corresponding to IHE. The flowchart for demonstrating the specific operation | movement of a server. The 1st flowchart for demonstrating the specific operation | movement of a client. The 2nd flowchart for demonstrating the specific operation | movement of a client. An example of a server display screen. An example of a client display screen. An example of a client display screen. The figure which shows the data structural example of the question destination table in a modification.

Explanation of symbols

S Medical Information Providing System 1 PACS
3 Server 5 Client 9 Media 11 General PC
30, 50 Control unit 34, 54 Storage unit 40, 60 Media drive 95 Browsing application 96 Simple mailer 342 Authentication information DB
346 Address Book DB
349 Contact table 350 Doctor name 351 Email address 352 Question destination table 353 User information 356 Question group D1 Medical image data D3 Header information D320 Reference doctor name D324 Interpretation doctor name D5 Image data 541 Mail data

Claims (14)

In a medical image providing apparatus for transferring medical image data to an external device by outputting the medical image data to various media,
Storage means for storing identification information for each medical staff and contact information of the medical staff in association with each other;
Obtaining means for obtaining user information for each predetermined user type;
Extracting means for extracting identification information of the medical staff included in the medical image data from the medical image data;
Contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the extraction means is read from the storage means, and a contact table generating means for generating a contact table that associates the contact information with the identification information;
Question destination table generation means for selecting classification information for classifying the medical staff based on the user type of the user information acquired by the acquisition means, and generating a question destination table associated with the classification information and the user information; ,
An output means for outputting the contact table and the question table to the various media together with the medical image data;
A medical image providing apparatus comprising: In a medical image providing apparatus for transferring medical image data to an external device by outputting the medical image data to various media,
Storage means for storing identification information for each medical staff and contact information of the medical staff in association with each other;
Obtaining means for obtaining user information for each predetermined user type;
Extracting means for extracting identification information of the medical staff included in the medical image data from the medical image data;
Contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the extraction means is read from the storage means, and a contact table generating means for generating a contact table that associates the contact information with the identification information;
A question destination table generating means for generating a question destination table by associating the user information acquired by the acquisition means with the user type of the user information;
An output means for outputting the contact table and the question table to the various media together with the medical image data;
A medical image providing apparatus comprising:   The medical image providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the contact information includes an e-mail address for each medical staff. The output means includes
4. The medical image providing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a writing unit configured to write and output the contact table, the question destination table, and the medical image data on a portable electronic medium. . The writing means includes
5. The medical image providing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the contact address table, the question destination table, and the medical image data are written in the portable electronic medium with a data structure corresponding to IHE. In a medical image reproduction apparatus that performs reproduction display of medical image data transferred from an external device via various media and has communication means for the external device,
The medical image data includes a contact table in which identification information of medical staff and contact information of the medical staff are associated, and a question destination table in which classification information for classifying the medical staff and user information are associated. And medical information acquisition means for acquiring from the various media,
User information acquisition means for acquiring user information in accordance with user input;
Identification information for reading out the classification information associated with the user information acquired by the user information acquisition means from the question destination table and extracting the identification information of the medical staff classified by the classification information from the medical image data Extraction means;
Setting means for reading out contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the identification information extraction means from the contact table and setting the contact information as a communication destination of the communication means;
A medical image reproducing apparatus comprising: In a medical image reproduction apparatus that performs reproduction display of medical image data transferred from an external device via various media and has communication means for the external device,
The contact table in which the identification information of the medical staff and the contact information of the medical staff are associated, and the question destination table in which the user information and the user type of the user information are associated with the medical image data. Medical information acquisition means for acquiring from various media;
User information acquisition means for acquiring user information in accordance with user input;
A classification information selection unit that reads out the user type associated with the user information acquired by the user information acquisition unit from the question destination table, and selects classification information for classifying the medical staff based on the user information;
Identification information extraction means for extracting identification information of the medical staff classified by the classification information selected by the classification information selection means from the medical image data;
Setting means for reading out contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the identification information extraction means from the contact table and setting the contact information as a communication destination of the communication means;
A medical image reproducing apparatus comprising: The communication means includes an electronic mailer that transmits mail data to the external device,
The contact information includes an email address for each medical staff,
8. The medical image reproduction apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the setting unit includes a mail setting unit that reads the mail address from the contact table and sets the mail address as a destination of the mail data. Further comprising incidental information extracting means for extracting incidental information included in the medical image data,
The email setting means
9. The medical image reproducing apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising body setting means for setting the accompanying information extracted by the accompanying information extracting means as a body of the mail data. The medical information acquisition means includes
The medical image reproducing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a reading unit that reads and acquires the contact table, the question table, and the medical image data from a portable electronic medium. . Computer
Storage means for storing identification information for each medical staff and contact information of the medical staff in association with each other;
Acquisition means for acquiring user information for each predetermined user type;
Extraction means for extracting identification information of the medical staff included in the medical image data from the medical image data;
Contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the extracting means is read from the storage means, and a contact table generating means for generating a contact table that associates the contact information with the identification information;
Question destination table generating means for selecting classification information for classifying the medical staff based on the user type of the user information acquired by the acquisition means, and generating a question destination table associated with the classification information and user information;
Output means for outputting the contact table and the question destination table together with the medical image data to various media;
Program to function as. Computer
Storage means for storing identification information for each medical staff and contact information of the medical staff in association with each other;
Acquisition means for acquiring user information for each predetermined user type;
Extraction means for extracting identification information of the medical staff included in the medical image data from the medical image data;
Contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the extracting means is read from the storage means, and a contact table generating means for generating a contact table that associates the contact information with the identification information;
Question destination table generating means for generating a question destination table in which the user information acquired by the acquisition means and the user type of the user information are associated with each other;
Output means for outputting the contact table and the question destination table together with the medical image data to various media;
Program to function as. Computer
Various types of contact information tables in which identification information of medical staff and contact information of the medical staff are associated, and question tables in which classification information for classifying medical staff and user information are associated, together with medical image data. Medical information acquisition means for acquiring from a medium;
User information acquisition means for acquiring user information in accordance with user input;
Identification information for reading out the classification information associated with the user information acquired by the user information acquisition means from the question destination table and extracting the identification information of the medical staff classified by the classification information from the medical image data Extraction means,
Setting means for reading contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the identification information extraction means from the contact table and setting the contact information as a communication destination of the communication means;
Program to function as. Computer
Various media, together with medical image data, a contact table in which identification information of medical staff and contact information of the medical staff are associated, and a question table in which user information and a user type of the user information are associated Medical information acquisition means to acquire from
User information acquisition means for acquiring user information in accordance with user input;
Classification information selection means for reading out the user type associated with the user information acquired by the user information acquisition means from the question destination table, and selecting classification information for classifying the medical staff based on the user information;
Identification information extraction means for extracting identification information of the medical staff classified by the classification information selected by the classification information selection means from the medical image data;
Setting means for reading contact information associated with the identification information extracted by the identification information extraction means from the contact table and setting the contact information as a communication destination of the communication means;
Program to function as.

Images