JP2009077765A - Endoscopic system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an endoscopic system used for performing a diagnosis by an endoscope and capable of performing comparative diagnosis on the basis of an image coinciding in photographing condition or treatment between re-diagnosis and the previous diagnosis. <P>SOLUTION: The image photographed by the endoscope, the position of the endoscope at the time of photographing and treatment history data being at least one of photographing condition data, image processing data and operation data are allowed to correspond to each other to be stored as endoscopic diagnosis data. At the time of re-diagnosis, the corresponding endoscopic diagnosis data is read from the position of the endoscope, and the photographing condition and image processing are reproduced to process the current image to arrange the previous image and the current image to display them. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an endoscope system that performs an examination using an endoscope, and more specifically, an endoscope that enables a more accurate comparison examination with an image taken in a previous examination at the time of a re-examination. The mirror system.

  As is well known, an endoscope basically includes an insertion portion to be inserted into a human body, an operation portion for operating an endoscope such as an operation of the insertion portion and air / water supply, an air supply source, a suction pump, and the like. LG connector (Light Guide connector) connected to, and a universal cord (LG soft part) that connects the LG connector to the operation part and the insertion part.

Endoscopes in recent years are not a so-called fiberscope type, which directly observes a medical examination site using glass fiber, but images the medical examination site with an image sensor such as a CCD sensor and displays the captured image on a display. Moreover, so-called electronic scope endoscopes that shoot moving images and still images are the mainstream.
Also, images (image data) taken with an endoscope are not only stored / managed as hard copies such as photographs, but also stored and managed in a storage medium such as a computer, server, CD or DVD for re-examination. In some cases, images taken at the previous examination are read out and used for comparative examination.

By the way, when performing a re-examination with an endoscope, observations were made at the previous examination, and the lesions and other parts that were imaged were taken, and treatment such as tissue sampling and hemostasis was performed at the previous examination. In many cases, the observation is performed for a part such as a part where the follow-up observation is desired.
Therefore, at the time of re-examination, it is preferable that the distal end portion (camera unit) of the endoscope can be easily and quickly inserted into a target site such as a site where observation or treatment was performed in the previous examination.

  In order to achieve such an object, position information of the endoscope (tip portion) is acquired at the time of diagnosis, and position information and a photographed image of the endoscope at a site where observation or treatment was performed in the previous diagnosis. Are stored in association with each other, and when performing an examination with an endoscope, the position information and image of the endoscope at the previous examination are read, and the current position information of the endoscope is Various proposals have been made to enable an endoscope to be easily and quickly inserted into a target site.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, an image taken with an endoscope and examination information (examination information data) related to the image are input, and an insertion state of the endoscope at the time of observation (insertion state data) Is acquired and input, and the image data, examination information, and insertion state are associated and stored in a server or the like, and the image data, examination information, and insertion state in the previous examination are read out at the time of re-examination Thus, an endoscope image filing system is disclosed that is used for the operation of an endoscope during reexamination.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, the position of the endoscope is detected by a position detection unit, and an image photographed by the endoscope is associated with position information of the position of the endoscope at that time. In addition, during the re-examination, the image and the tip position at the previous examination are displayed, and the image taken by the endoscope under examination is displayed as a moving image together with the tip position detected by the position detection means. A display (electronic) endoscope system is disclosed.

JP 2003-144386 A JP 2006-223850 A

With the systems disclosed in these documents, the tip of the endoscope is easily and quickly inserted into the observation site or treatment site in the previous examination while recognizing the position of the endoscope. be able to.
However, even at the same position in the body, the density and color of the image will differ if the imaging conditions, the processing applied to the captured image, etc. differ between the previous examination and the current examination. In some cases, an accurate comparative examination may not be possible. In addition, if the type of endoscope differs between the previous examination and the current examination, the density and color of the image will differ depending on the characteristics of each endoscope. Depending on the difference or the like, the image density and color may be different.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. In the examination (examination) using an endoscope, the imaging conditions are the same between the previous examination and the current examination at the same position in the body. Another object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope system capable of comparing / observing appropriate images that match the image processing conditions and the like and perform a diagnosis.

  In order to achieve the above object, an endoscope system of the present invention includes position information acquisition means for acquiring in-vivo position information that is position information in the body of an endoscope camera unit, an image captured by the endoscope, In-vivo position information at the time of imaging of the image acquired by the position information acquisition means, information on imaging conditions of the image by the endoscope, information on image processing performed on the image captured by the endoscope, and the endoscope An endoscope server that stores endoscope examination information associated with treatment history information that is at least one of operation information, an image display unit that displays an image captured by the endoscope, and the position information Using the in-vivo position information acquired by the acquisition means, search means for searching corresponding endoscopic examination information from the endoscope server, and when the search means searches for endoscopic examination information, the treatment history Using the information An adjustment unit that matches at least one of an imaging condition and image processing between the image and the image of the endoscopic examination information, and the image display unit is configured to search the endoscopic examination information by the search unit. When this is done, an endoscope system is provided that displays an image under examination and an image of the endoscopic examination information.

  In such an endoscope system of the present invention, the in-vivo position information includes the insertion length of the endoscope into the body, or the insertion length of the endoscope into the body and the light of the imaging means of the endoscope. It is preferable that the information is combined with information in the axial direction, and the adjustment unit preferably matches the imaging condition and image processing of the image under examination with the treatment history information. It is preferable to process the image being examined or the image of the endoscopic examination information so that the image feature amount substantially matches between the image being examined and the image of the endoscopic examination information. Preferably, the history information includes the operation information of the endoscope, and the operation information of the endoscope in the endoscopic examination information searched by the search means is displayed on the display means, and the image being examined Between the image and the endoscopic examination information image It is preferable to display the attention information according to the degree of difference by the display means, and when the search means searches the endoscopic examination information as a selectable system operation mode, It is preferable to have a mode in which the endoscope automatically captures a still image of the image being captured.

According to the endoscope system of the present invention having the above-described configuration, in addition to the positional information of the endoscopic camera unit that captured the image and the captured image when performing an examination with the endoscope, the imaging condition and Treatment history information such as image processing conditions is also stored in the server in association with each other, and at the time of re-examination, the image currently being examined according to the position information of the endoscope (currently being imaged) The image taken at the previous examination corresponding to the current endoscope position is displayed. Here, in the endoscope system of the present invention, in the image of the previous examination and the image under examination, the imaging condition and the image processing condition are adjusted, and the image feature amount is substantially matched to display the image. To do.
Therefore, in the present invention, images of the same part in the examination by the endoscope can be displayed with images matching the conditions in the previous examination and the current examination, and the accuracy of the comparative diagnosis is improved. Can be improved.

  Hereinafter, an endoscope system of the present invention will be described in detail based on a preferred embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 conceptually shows an example of an endoscope system of the present invention in a block diagram.
An endoscope system 10 shown in FIG. 1 is a system for performing a diagnosis using an endoscope 12, and includes, as an example, an endoscope server 14, a display 16, a database 18, and a control means 20. Composed.

The endoscope 12 is a so-called electronic scope endoscope that captures (captures) an image of a medical examination site using a CCD sensor and captures a moving image or a still image, and is similar to a normal endoscope. An insertion portion, an operation portion, an LG connector (Light Guide connector), a universal cord (LG flexible portion), and the like are configured.
In the system 10 of the present invention, the corresponding endoscope 12 is not limited to a single unit, and it is a matter of course that a large number of types of endoscopes 12 (various models) can be supported. It is.

The database 18 associates various types of information of patients (subjects) examined by the endoscope 12 by the endoscope system 10 (hereinafter referred to as the system 10) with patient IDs. It is a database recorded as.
Examples of information recorded in the database 18 include information on the history of treatments such as patient name, age, patient ID, date and time of examination, total number of diagnoses, and various treatments such as hemostasis and tissue sampling. Is done.

The display 16 is a known display (display device).
As will be described in detail later, in the system 10 of the illustrated example, an image currently being examined (an image (moving image) currently being picked up by the endoscope 12) and the endoscope server 14 are stored in the display 16. An image captured by the endoscope 12 in the past, a point of caution at the examination, a comment input at the previous examination, and the like are displayed.

The control means 20 manages and controls the entire system 10.
The control means 20 will be described in detail later.

The endoscope server 14 associates an image (image data) taken by the endoscope 12 and various information related to the examination with a patient ID for each patient at the time of examination with the endoscope 12. It is a server to memorize. The image stored in the endoscope server 14 may be a moving image or a still image, or may be both a moving image and a still image.
The endoscope server 14 may store the entire history of each patient's examination, and a history of a predetermined number of times (or a predetermined period) of each patient's examination as in the past (latest) history. Alternatively, only the latest images and information of each patient (last examination = previous examination for the next examination) may be stored.

Here, in the system 10 of the present invention, the endoscope server 14 associates in-vivo position information and treatment history information with images, patient IDs, examination dates, etc., in addition to images taken by the endoscope. And stored as endoscopic examination information.
As will be described in detail later, the treatment history information includes at least one of imaging condition information, image processing information, and operation information.

The in-vivo position information is information on the position of the distal end portion (= camera portion) of the endoscope 12 in the body when an image is taken (taken by a doctor's operation while watching a moving image on the display 16).
In the illustrated example, as an example, information on the length of the endoscope 12 (the insertion portion) inserted into the body at the time of imaging (hereinafter referred to as the insertion length) is used as position information in the body in the endoscopic examination information. .

In the system 10, there is no particular limitation on the means for acquiring the insertion length of the endoscope (insertion unit), and various methods can be used.
As conceptually shown in FIG. 2A as an example, the length of the insertion portion 24 from the distal end (from the distal end to the position of the insertion portion 24 to which the insertion portion 24 is attached) is inserted into the insertion portion 24 of the endoscope 12. IC tags 26 storing information on the insertion length of the endoscope 12 (insertion portion 24) into the body are arranged at predetermined intervals. On the other hand, as conceptually shown in FIG. 2 (B), in order to insert the endoscope 12 into the body (inside the body cavity), an IC tag attached to an insertion portion 24 on a mouthpiece 30 attached to a patient's mouth. An IC tag reader 32 for reading 26 information is attached.
As a result, when the endoscope 12 is inserted into the body, the IC tag 26 of the insertion portion 24 is read by the IC tag reader 32 of the mouthpiece 30 and the insertion length information is sent to the control means 20 or the like. The insertion length of the mirror 12 can be acquired.

The insertion length acquisition means is not limited to this, and various methods can be used.
For example, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-280604, a small scale camera attached to a mouthpiece is provided with a visible scale indicating the length of the insertion section at the insertion section of the endoscope 12. It is also possible to use a method of taking an image, analyzing the taken image information, and obtaining the insertion length.
Alternatively, instead of automatically acquiring the insertion length of the endoscope 12 in this way, the input means such as a keyboard or a mouse provided in the control means 20 or the like, for example, at the time of imaging or reexamination In this case, when it is desired to see the image of the previous examination, the insertion length of the endoscope 12 may be input as appropriate, and the system 10 may acquire the insertion length of the endoscope at the time of imaging.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the in-vivo position information includes information in the optical axis direction of the camera in addition to the insertion length.
As is well known, the insertion portion of the endoscope 12 has an angle portion (curved portion) in the vicinity of the distal end, and an angle portion bending knob (left / right knob, up / down knob) provided in the operation portion. ), The angle portion can be bent up and down / left and right.
When photographing, information on the bending direction of the angle portion, that is, information on the optical axis direction of the camera, is acquired and stored as body position information together with the information on the insertion length. With accuracy, it is possible to search for images taken at the same position during the previous examination.

  For information on the direction of the optical axis of the camera, for example, means for detecting the operation amount of the knob for bending the angle portion (for example, means for detecting the rotation angle or amount of the knob) is provided in the operation portion of the endoscope 12. The information on the optical axis direction of the camera may be obtained from the operation amount.

In the present invention, the in-vivo position information of the endoscope 12 is not limited to the insertion length or information in the direction of the optical axis of the camera, and if the position of the endoscope (tip portion) in the body at the time of photographing is known, Various types of information are available.
As an example, a source coil is arranged in a channel of an endoscope disclosed in JP-A-8-107875, and a signal proportional to the magnetic field intensity generated by the source coil is detected by a three-axis sense coil. Based on this detection signal, a method of detecting the shape of the endoscope in the body may be used, and the shape of the endoscope may be used as position information in the body of the endoscope at the time of photographing.
Alternatively, the position of the endoscope at the time of imaging is input as “stomach entrance”, “stomach exit”, “small intestine entrance” by the input means arranged in the control means 20, and this is input into the body. It may be position information.
Further, information on the optical axis direction of the camera may be combined with the in-vivo position information.

  As described above, the treatment history information is at least one, preferably three pieces of information of imaging condition information, image processing information, and operation information.

Specifically, the photographing condition is information on the amount of photographing light.
As an example, the amount of light irradiated into the body from the distal end portion of the endoscope 12 (insertion portion) at the time of photographing is illustrated. As is well known, the endoscope 12 connects the LG connector to the light source device 22 of the examination facility, and propagates the light emitted from the light source device with a light guide made of an optical fiber. The body is irradiated with light from the tip of 12. Since the light source device 22 of this examination facility can usually adjust the amount of light to be irradiated, information on the light amount (light intensity) of the light source device 22 at the time of photographing is stored as photographing conditions. When the light source device 22 has a function of selecting the wavelength of the light source, information on the wavelength of the light source is also stored as an imaging condition.
In addition, when the endoscope 12 has a function of changing the electronic shutter speed (electronic shutter opening time) of the CCD sensor, in addition to (or in place of) the information on the amount of photographing light, the information on the electronic shutter speed is also included in the photographing conditions. Is preferably stored as
Furthermore, it is also preferable to store the in-vivo position where a still image was shot (still image was shot by a doctor's operation while watching a moving image on the display 16) as a shooting condition.

Depending on the endoscope system, it may be possible to set the brightness and color of an image captured by the endoscope 12. It is also possible to perform various image processing such as color / density correction, sharpening processing (sharpness processing), smoothing processing, and other filter processing, image enlargement / reduction, and image rotation. There is a case.
The image processing information is information such as the type of image processing performed on an image photographed by the endoscope 12, or the image processing conditions.
In the illustrated system 10, the control means 20 performs image processing on an image captured by the endoscope 12 as necessary. The image processing performed by the control unit 20 is not particularly limited, and one or more of the above image processings are exemplified as an example. In the present invention, not only the control unit 20 but also the endoscope 12 and the endoscope server 14 may perform various image processing on the image captured by the endoscope 12.

The operation information is information related to the operation of the endoscope 12 by a doctor.
Specifically, information on the operation of the endoscope 12, information on various treatments performed on the patient such as hemostasis and tissue sampling, comments on the examination and operation of the patient and the endoscope, etc. The information of the attention point such as the position where it is felt should be exemplified. Information on the operation of the endoscope 12 includes, for example, information on the operation of the angle portion (bending in this direction at this position (insertion length)), information on the position where air supply, water supply, suction, etc. are performed. Is exemplified.
In the system 10, comments and caution points are input by an input means such as a keyboard or a mouse provided in the control means 20 or the like. In addition, as for information related to the operation of the endoscope 12, various operation information (data) in the operation unit of the endoscope 12 is sent from the operation unit to the control unit 20 (or the control unit 20 goes to see). You can do it.

  Hereinafter, the control unit 20 and the endoscope system of the present invention will be described in more detail by the operation of the system 10.

In the illustrated example, as described above, as described above, the IC tag 26 storing the insertion length information is attached to the insertion portion 24 of the endoscope 12, and the IC tag reader 32 is attached to the mouthpiece 30. Therefore, information on the insertion length of the endoscope 12 (insertion unit 24) read by the IC tag reader 32 is sent from the IC tag reader 32 to the control means 20 as needed.
Further, information on the amount of light in the light source device 22 connected to the LG connector of the endoscope 12 is also supplied from the light source device 22 (or the endoscope 12) to the control means 20 as needed.

First, predetermined information such as a patient ID, a patient name, and a medical examination content is input to the control means 20.
When necessary information such as a patient ID is supplied to the endoscope server 14, the endoscope server 14 reads various information about the patient from the database 18 and sends necessary information to the control means 20.

  When the examination is started and the endoscope 12 (the insertion portion 24) is inserted into the patient, the image of the examination being performed by the endoscope 12 and the information on the insertion length are obtained at any time. The image (moving image) is displayed on the display 16.

When the doctor performs imaging, the information is sent from the endoscope 12 to the control means 20.
In this example, as an example, assuming that a still image has been shot, the control unit 20 corresponds to the shot image, the insertion length at the time of shooting, and information on the light amount of the light source device 22 at the time of shooting (shooting conditions). At the same time, it is sent to the endoscope server 14 as endoscope examination information.
Further, when the angle portion of the endoscope 12 is curved at the time of photographing, preferably, the control means 20 also adds information on the bending direction (that is, the optical axis direction of the camera) to the endoscope examination information. In addition, if treatment such as hemostasis or tissue collection is performed and information to that effect is input by a doctor or assistant, preferably information on the treatment performed by the doctor is also added to the endoscopic examination information. To do.

  In the system 10 of the present invention, shooting is not limited to still images, and moving images may be shot as described above. Even when moving images are shot, Similarly, endoscopic examination information in which an image, insertion length information, imaging condition information, image processing information, and the like are associated with each other is generated and stored in the endoscope server 14.

When a still image is captured, the control unit 20 displays the captured image on the display 16 as a still image for a predetermined time as an example.
Here, when an instruction such as correction of brightness or color, rotation or enlargement / reduction of the image is given to the image in advance or input by a doctor or an assistant, the control means 20 The image taken by the endoscope 12 is subjected to instructed image processing and displayed on the display 16, and image processing information is also added to the endoscopic examination information.
Further, when the doctor or assistant inputs that the taken part is a caution point or some comment is input, such information is also added to the endoscopic examination information.

  The endoscope server 14 further associates the patient ID, the date and time of diagnosis, and the like with the endoscopic examination information sent from the control means 20, for example, a predetermined set according to the patient and the date of examination. Is stored at the position (address).

  In the system 10 of the present invention, every time an image is taken by the endoscope 12 during the examination by the endoscope 12, the control means 20 performs the above processing to obtain information on the image, insertion length, light amount, etc. Are associated with each other, generated and sent to the endoscope server 14 for storage.

In addition, when an instruction to display an image taken during the examination is input after the examination is completed, the control unit 20 reads the corresponding image from the endoscope server 14 and displays it on the display 16.
At this time, when an instruction for image processing is input, the control means 20 performs the instructed image processing on the image to be displayed and sends information on the performed image processing to the endoscope server 14. In addition, it is stored in addition to the endoscopic examination information. Further, when an input indicating that the photographing position is a caution point or a comment is input to the displayed image, such information is also sent to the endoscope server 14 to be used as endoscopic examination information. Add and remember.

On the other hand, when re-examination is performed in the system 10, first, predetermined information such as the patient ID, the patient name, and the content of the examination is input to the control unit 20 as before.
When necessary information such as a patient ID is supplied to the endoscope server 14, the endoscope server 14 similarly reads various information about the patient from the database 18, and also sends necessary information to the control means 20. send.
Further, the control means 20 searches the endoscope server 14 and uses the patient ID, information on the contents of the examination, etc., and the previous examination (that is, the latest) of the same examination performed by the endoscope 12 for this patient. Search for endoscopic examination information in the (last) examination.

The re-examination by the endoscope 12 is started, and the endoscope 12 is inserted into the patient.
Similarly to the above, the image captured by the endoscope is supplied to the control unit 20 as needed, and the display 16 displays an image of the current examination (an image (moving image) currently captured by the endoscope 12). ) Is displayed.

Here, in this system 10, as described above, the insertion length information of the endoscope 12 is constantly updated by the IC tag 26 of the endoscope 12 (insertion unit 24) and the IC tag reader 32 of the mouthpiece 30. To the control means 20.
The control means 20 retrieves endoscopic examination information having the same insertion length (in-vivo position information of the endoscope) from the previously obtained endoscopic examination information of the patient using the insertion length information. To do. For example, if the insertion length of the endoscope 12 in the current examination is 50 cm, the endoscope examination information in the photographing at the time when the insertion length is 50 cm in the previous examination is retrieved.
When the endoscopic examination information of the same insertion length in the previous examination is found as a result of searching the endoscopic examination information, the control means 20 reads out the endoscopic examination information from the endoscope server 14, The image is displayed on the display 16.

  As an example, as shown in FIG. 3, the image of the current examination (the image (moving image) currently captured by the endoscope 12) is displayed in the area 40 of the display 16, and the control means 20 retrieves and reads it out. In the previous examination, images of endoscopic examination information equal to the insertion length of the current endoscope 12 are displayed side by side in the area 42 below the area 40.

Further, the control means 20 determines the light quantity of the light source device 22 to which the LG connector of the endoscope 12 is connected according to the previous examination in accordance with the light quantity information of the treatment history information included in the searched endoscopic examination information. Then, an instruction is issued so that the amount of light is the same as when the image in the endoscopic examination information is taken. The light source device 22 adjusts the amount of light accordingly. Alternatively, a light amount instruction may be displayed on the display 16 and the light amount adjustment by the light source device 22 may be performed manually.
Further, the control means 20 changes the image currently captured by the endoscope 12 to the image currently captured by the endoscope 12 in accordance with the image processing information of the treatment history information included in the endoscope examination information. The same image processing as that performed is performed and displayed on the display 16.

  In the illustrated example, as a preferred embodiment, both the amount of photographing light (imaging condition) and image processing are made to coincide with the image of the same insertion length of the previous examination, but the present invention is not limited to this. Only one of them may be matched with the image of the previous examination.

In addition, the control means 20 adds, to the read endoscopic examination information, information related to the operation of the endoscope 12 such as a comment and bending of the angle portion, and further information related to treatment by a doctor such as hemostasis and tissue sampling. Is included in the area 46 of the display 16, for example.
Further, when the read endoscopic examination information includes information on the caution point, the control unit 20 displays an image simulating a human body on the display 16 and displays the caution point P.

Each time the insertion length of the endoscope 12 changes, the control means 20 retrieves endoscopic examination information having the same insertion length from the previously obtained endoscopic examination information of the patient, and the insertion length is determined. When matching endoscopic examination information is found, similarly, the light amount of the light source device 22 is set to the same as that at the time of imaging in the previous examination, and the same image processing as in the previous examination is applied to the image in the current examination. To display an image, and further display an image, comments, etc. of endoscopic examination information.
That is, in the system 10, every time the insertion length of the endoscope in the current examination changes, the display on the display 16 is switched to reproduce the state of the same insertion length in the previous examination.

Therefore, according to the system of the present invention, the doctor can observe the image captured by the examination of the endoscope as an image under exactly the same conditions as the previous examination in the examination by the current endoscope 12. The accuracy of the comparative diagnosis by the endoscope 12 can be improved.
In addition to reproducing the imaging conditions and image processing conditions in the previous examination, it is also possible to reproduce and display operation information, comments, caution points, etc. in the previous examination. By referring to it, a more appropriate and accurate examination can be performed.

Of course, in the system 10, images may be taken during re-examination.
When the doctor gives an instruction to take an image with the endoscope 12 at the re-examination, the control means 20 exemplifies the current image (image processing is performed) displayed on the display 16 as an example. Using the current image), endoscopic examination information is generated in the same manner as described above, and is sent to the endoscope server 14 for storage.
As a result, when the images of the previous examination and the current examination are read out from the endoscope server 14 later and the comparative examination is performed, a comparative examination can be performed with an image having the same imaging conditions and image processing. The examination accuracy can be improved.

  Furthermore, in the system 10, when the re-examination is performed as a selectable operation (operation) mode, the endoscopic examination information of the previous examination in which the current insertion length matches the insertion length can be retrieved. That is, a mode may be provided in which an image is automatically captured when the position of the endoscope 12 in the re-examination is the same position as the previous image capturing position.

The automatic image capturing at the re-examination may be a moving image or a still image, or the moving image / still image may be matched with the image of the previous examination. Further, a moving image and a still image may be selected depending on a mode or the like.
Still image shooting may be performed such that the control unit 20 captures an image (moving image) sent from the endoscope 12 as a still image, or the control unit 20 captures a still image. Thus, the instruction may be issued to the endoscope 12 as described above. The number of still images to be taken may be one or a plurality of continuous shots, one image and continuous shooting may be selectable, and the number of still images may be selected. .

In the above example, the light quantity (photographing light quantity) of the light source device 22 and the image processing are matched with the image of the same insertion length in the previous examination and the current examination (that is, the previous photographing light quantity and image processing are the same). Reproduced by medical examination).
However, the system 10 of the present invention is not limited to this, and furthermore, the image feature amounts (particularly luminance and color) are approximately the same between the previous examination and the image of the same insertion length of the current examination. In addition, the currently captured image may be processed (corrected). At this time, a region where the image feature amounts are matched by image processing may be selected such as the entire surface of the photographed image or a predetermined partial region including the center of the image.

  If the model of the endoscope 12 is different, if there is a difference in the same model, or if the state of the endoscope 12 has changed between the previous and current examinations, the imaging conditions and image processing will be changed. Even if they are matched, there is a possibility that the images may differ between the previous examination and the current examination. On the other hand, by performing such image processing, it is possible to make a more suitable comparative examination by matching the luminance and color of the image.

In the above example, the previous imaging conditions and image processing are reproduced, and the image in the current examination is matched with the previous examination.
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and conversely, a previously captured image may be generated and displayed when a simulation image in accordance with current shooting conditions and image processing is generated. Image processing may be performed so that the brightness and color of the selected image match the currently captured image.

As described above, the endoscopic examination information (operation information of the treatment history information) may include information on the curvature of the angle portion of the endoscope 12, information on the treatment performed by the doctor, and the like. Further, it is possible to know the insertion speed and the like by processing the temporal change of the insertion length.
By using this, information on the operation performed in the previous examination and information on the insertion speed of the endoscope 12 in the previous examination are displayed on the display 16 (sequentially or as guidance information for the operation in this examination). May be displayed at a time) so that the current examination can be suitably matched to the previous examination.
Alternatively, attention point information may be displayed on the display 16 as guidance information so that items other than the attention point in the previous examination may be omitted.

As described above, in the system 10, a comparative examination is performed by displaying the image taken in the previous examination and the image taken in the current examination side by side.
Here, in the image having the same insertion length, when the images are significantly different between the previous examination and the current examination, it is considered that there is a large change in the medical condition. Therefore, in the image with the same insertion length, the image feature amount is calculated, the edge is detected, etc. between the previous examination image and the current examination image, and the color and shape of the images are compared. When the difference in taste exceeds a preset threshold value, attention information may be displayed on the display 16, or a warning sound or the like may be generated. Further, the threshold value of the difference degree may be set stepwise, and the caution information corresponding to the magnitude of the difference degree may be displayed.
Note that the threshold value of the degree of difference and the attention information corresponding to the degree of difference may be fixed in advance, but it is preferable that at least one, preferably both, can be arbitrarily set by the doctor.

  As mentioned above, although the endoscope system of the endoscope of the present invention has been described in detail, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various improvements and modifications are made without departing from the gist of the present invention. Of course, you may.

For example, instead of the endoscopic examination information in the previous examination, simulation endoscopic examination information may be used.
For example, by using a virtual human body model, an endoscope operation simulation according to the position of each organ is performed in advance to determine a target imaging point (position in the body or further the direction of the endoscope).
Next, when performing an actual patient examination, after correcting the position data of the simulation endoscopic examination information according to the height of the patient, the target imaging point is determined based on the corrected simulation endoscopic examination information. Automatic shooting, and display or notification of shooting prompt information. The simulation endoscopic examination information in this aspect is a CG endoscopic image of each organ in the virtual human body model.
According to such a system, it is possible to improve the examination efficiency in the case of a routine check at the first visit. In addition, in the field of new face education, the educational effect can be improved by experiencing a sample operation method by a veteran doctor.

It is a block diagram which shows notionally an example of the endoscope system of the present invention. (A) The perspective view which shows notionally an example of the endoscope used with the endoscope system of this invention, (B) is a conceptual diagram of the mouthpiece. It is a figure which shows notionally an example of the display display in the endoscope system of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 (Endoscope) system 12 Endoscope 14 Endoscope server 16 Display 18 Database 20 Control means 22 Light source device 24 Insertion part 26 IC tag 30 Mouthpiece 32 IC tag 40, 42, 46 Area | region

Claims (7)

Position information acquisition means for acquiring in-vivo position information which is position information in the body of the endoscope camera unit;
The image taken by the endoscope, the in-vivo position information at the time of taking the image obtained by the position information obtaining means, the information on the photographing conditions of the image by the endoscope, and the image taken by the endoscope An endoscope server for storing endoscopic examination information in association with image processing information and treatment history information which is at least one of endoscope operation information;
Image display means for displaying an image taken by the endoscope;
Search means for searching corresponding endoscopic examination information from the endoscope server, using the in-vivo position information acquired by the position information acquisition means;
When the retrieval unit retrieves endoscopic examination information, the imaging history and the image processing are matched between the image being examined and the image of the endoscopic examination information using the treatment history information. Adjusting means,
The image display means displays an image under examination and an image of the endoscopic examination information when the retrieval means searches for endoscopic examination information. .   2. The in-vivo position information is an insertion length of the endoscope into the body, or a combination of an insertion length of the endoscope into the body and information in the optical axis direction of the imaging means of the endoscope. The endoscope system described in 1.   The endoscope system according to claim 1, wherein the adjustment unit matches an imaging condition and image processing of an image under examination with the treatment history information.   2. The adjustment unit processes the image being examined or the image of the endoscopic examination information so that the image feature amount substantially matches between the image being examined and the image of the endoscopic examination information. The endoscope system according to any one of to 3. The treatment history information includes operation information of the endoscope,
The endoscope system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein operation information of the endoscope in the endoscopic examination information searched by the search unit is displayed on the display unit.   The endoscope according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a degree of difference between an image being examined and an image of the endoscopic examination information is detected, and caution information corresponding to the degree of difference is displayed by the display means. system.   The system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the selectable system operation mode includes a mode in which the endoscope automatically captures an image being photographed when the retrieval unit retrieves endoscopic examination information. The endoscope system described in 1.

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