JP2010201002A - Small scale diagnosis system and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent lowering in efficiency of receiving a medical image and diagnosis in a small scale diagnosis system. <P>SOLUTION: In this medical image management device 3, when the free capacity of an image saving area 334 of a storage part 33 is a predetermined threshold or less, a medical image whose frequency of use is lower than a predetermined reference is selected as a moving and deletion object from the medical images stored in the image saving area 334, and the selected medical image is transmitted to NAS (Network Attached Storage) 4 and stored in the NAS4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a small-scale diagnosis system and program.

  Conventionally, small-scale diagnostic systems for small-scale facilities such as practitioners and clinics are known. In a small-scale diagnosis system, medical images are stored in an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or the like of an image server. However, there is a strong demand for an inexpensive system that can keep the introduction cost low, and as a result an HDD with a small image storage capacity. Tended to be installed.

  However, when the operation is actually started, there are many cases where the image storage area is exhausted in a short time, contrary to the initial expectation.

  Therefore, for example, in Patent Document 1, a DICOM (Digital Image and Communications in Medicine) format medical image received from a modality is divided into a DICOM header file and a general-purpose image file and stored. When the image acquisition request is received, the general-purpose image file is transmitted to the interpretation terminal. When the DICOM image acquisition request is received from the interpretation terminal, the general-purpose image file and the DICOM header file are combined to obtain the DICOM file. A technique for reducing the data storage capacity by generating and transmitting to an interpretation terminal is described.

JP 2008-293189 A

  In Patent Document 1, since the capacity required for one medical image can be reduced as compared with the case where both the DICOM file and the general-purpose image file are stored, the speed at which the image storage area is exhausted can be delayed. However, since it is unavoidable that the free space in the image storage area decreases as the number of medical images received from the modality increases, it becomes impossible to receive a new medical image due to a lack of capacity, or the increase in the number of stored images There have been cases where the reception efficiency and diagnosis efficiency of new medical images are reduced due to a decrease in the reading speed of medical images. In order to avoid such a situation, it is necessary to frequently delete and back up medical images according to the operation of the administrator while taking into account the free space of the image server, which is complicated.

  An object of the present invention is to prevent reception of medical images and deterioration of diagnostic efficiency in a small-scale diagnostic system.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention described in claim 1
A small-scale diagnosis system in which a medical image management device and an external storage device are connected via a communication network,
The medical image management apparatus includes:
A storage unit for storing medical images;
When the free space of the storage unit is less than or equal to a predetermined reference value, a medical image whose use frequency is lower than a predetermined reference is selected from the medical images stored in the storage unit, and this selection A control unit that transmits the stored medical image to the external storage device, stores the medical image, and deletes the medical image from the storage unit;
Is provided.

The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1,
An auxiliary information storage unit for storing auxiliary information of medical images stored in the storage unit;
The control unit selects a medical image whose use frequency is lower than a predetermined reference from medical images stored in the storage unit, based on the auxiliary information stored in the auxiliary information storage unit.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2,
The storage unit stores a plurality of types of images for one medical image,
The control unit transmits to the external storage device a specific type of medical image selected that the frequency of use is lower than a predetermined reference, stores the image, and deletes it from the storage unit.

The program of the invention described in claim 4 is:
Computer
A storage unit for storing medical images;
When the free space of the storage unit is less than or equal to a predetermined reference value, a medical image whose use frequency is lower than a predetermined reference is selected from the medical images stored in the storage unit, and this selection A control unit that transmits the stored medical image to an external storage device connected via a communication network, stores the medical image, and deletes the stored medical image from the storage unit;
To function as.

  According to the present invention, in a small-scale diagnosis system, it is possible to prevent reception of medical images and a decrease in diagnosis efficiency.

It is a figure showing the whole small-scale diagnostic system composition in an embodiment of the invention. It is a figure which shows typically the file structure of the medical image produced | generated by the modality of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the functional structure of the medical image management apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the data storage structure of the memory | storage part of FIG. The example of the kind of file produced | generated based on an original image and information content is shown. It is a flowchart which shows the regular maintenance process performed by the control part of FIG. It is a figure which shows typically the content of the regular maintenance process of FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the scope of the invention is not limited to the illustrated examples.

[Configuration of small-scale diagnostic system 1]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a small-scale diagnosis system 1 in the present embodiment.
The small-scale diagnosis system 1 is a system for managing medical images generated by the modality 2 and is applied to a relatively small-scale medical facility such as a practitioner or a clinic. As shown in FIG. 1, the small-scale diagnosis system 1 includes a medical image management apparatus 3, a NAS (Network Attached Storage) 4, and an image interpretation terminal 5. Each device and modality 2 constituting the small-scale diagnosis system 1 are connected to a communication network (hereinafter simply referred to as “network”) 6 such as a LAN (Local Area Network) via a switching hub (not shown), for example. The number of modalities 2, NAS 4, and interpretation terminals 5 is not particularly limited.

  As a communication system in a hospital, the DICOM standard is generally used, and DICOM MWM (Modality Worklist Management) or DICOM MPPS (Modality Performed Procedure Step) is used for communication between devices connected via a LAN. . Note that the communication method applicable to this embodiment is not limited to this.

[Device configuration of each device of the small-scale diagnosis system 1]
Hereinafter, each apparatus which comprises the small-scale diagnosis system 1 is demonstrated.

  The modality 2 is an image generation apparatus that performs imaging using a patient's diagnosis target region as a subject and digitally converts the captured image to generate a medical image. The modality 2 includes character input keys and numeric input keys for inputting patient information (patient ID, patient name, sex, etc.) for specifying a patient to be imaged, and a medical image obtained by imaging Attached information d2 consisting of UID (UniqueID), examination information (examination ID, examination site, examination date, etc.), input patient information, etc. to image data d1 to generate a medical image in a file format conforming to the DICOM standard And transmitted to the medical image management apparatus 3. Here, a medical image in a file format conforming to the DICOM standard generated by the modality 2 is referred to as an original image. FIG. 2 shows an example of the file structure of the original image.

  As the modality 2, a CR (Computed Radiography) apparatus, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus (US), an FPD (Flat Panel Detector), an endoscope, an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), or the like is applicable.

  The medical image management apparatus 3 is an image server that stores medical images and searches and transmits stored medical images in response to requests from the interpretation terminal 5.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the medical image management apparatus 3 includes a control unit 31, a RAM 32, a storage unit 33, an operation unit 34, a display unit 35, a communication unit 36, a timing unit 37, and the like. They are connected by a bus 38.

The control unit 31 is configured by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or the like, reads various programs such as system programs and processing programs stored in the storage unit 33, expands them in the RAM 32, and performs periodic maintenance described later according to the expanded programs. Various processes including the process are executed.

  The RAM 32 temporarily stores a work area for temporarily storing various programs, input or output data, parameters, and the like that can be executed by the control unit 31 read from the storage unit 33 in various processes controlled by the control unit 31. Form.

The storage unit 33 is configured by an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or the like.
FIG. 4 shows a data storage structure of the storage unit 33. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the storage unit 33 includes a system area 331, a database area 332, a reception area 333, and an image storage area 334.

In the system area 331, various programs are stored, and image processing parameters for adjusting a medical image such as an original image received from the modality 2 to an image quality suitable for diagnosis (a gradation curve used for gradation processing). A look-up table defining the frequency, the enhancement degree of frequency processing, etc.), a threshold value used in periodic maintenance processing, a reference period, and the like.
The database area 332 stores a database DB for managing medical images stored in the image storage area 334. The database DB includes auxiliary information d2 (UID, patient information, examination information) of the original image received from the modality 2 and file information (file name, file storage location, file of multiple types of files generated based on the original image). Size) is stored as one record.
The reception area 333 is an area for temporarily storing the original image received from the modality 2.
The image storage area 334 is an area for storing an original image received from the modality 2 and a plurality of types of files generated based on the original image.

  Here, in the medical image management apparatus 3, when the original image transmitted from the modality 2 is received by the communication unit 36, the additional information is registered in the database DB and a plurality of items are registered in cooperation with the control unit 31 and the program. A file of a type is generated. Specifically, a record is added to the database DB in the database area 332, and the incidental information d2 of the received original image is stored. Also, based on one received original image, a plurality of types of files (images and related information files) having different amounts of information are generated. The original image and the generated file are stored in the image storage area 334. In other words, in the image storage area 334, for one medical image generated by the modality 2, a plurality of types of files including the original image of the medical image are stored. The storage location of each generated file is registered in the database DB.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the type of file and the amount of information generated based on the original image.
The permanent storage image is an image file generated by compressing the image data d1 of the original image by a lossless compression method such as JPEGP10. The law requires that medical images used for diagnosis be stored for a predetermined period of time. However, if the original image is stored permanently, the amount of information is large and the capacity of the storage unit 33 is compressed. Therefore, a permanent storage image having an information amount of about 0.5 of the original image is generated.

The reference image is an image file generated by compressing the image data d1 of the original image by an irreversible compression method such as JPEG2000. The reference image is created in order to display a medical image simply and quickly.
The thumbnail image is a reduced image file generated by reducing the image data d1 of the original image. A thumbnail image is an image created for displaying a list of contents of medical images.

The LUT (Look Up Table) is a processing parameter file used when gradation processing is performed on an original image. For example, an LUT corresponding to the examination site is generated based on the examination site included in the incidental information of the original image.
The header information is a file of the accompanying information d2 of the original image.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the total amount of information of the generated file is 0.71 when the original image is 1, which is smaller than one original image. Therefore, in a regular maintenance process described later, for a medical image that has become less frequently used after a predetermined period of time has passed since the examination date, the original image is deleted from the storage unit 33 and the permanent storage image is stored in the external NAS 4. Moved to and saved. Here, the movement refers to reading a medical image (here, a permanent storage image) from the storage unit 33, transmitting it to the NAS 4, storing it in the NAS 4, and storing the medical image to be transmitted to the NAS 4 from the storage unit 33. To delete.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the operation unit 34 includes a keyboard having cursor keys, numeric input keys, various function keys, and the like, and a pointing device such as a mouse. An operation signal from the mouse is output to the control unit 31 as an input signal.

  The display unit 35 is configured to include a monitor such as a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) or an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), for example, and displays various screens according to instructions of display signals input from the control unit 31. For example, the display unit 35 displays a medical image according to an instruction from the control unit 31.

  The communication unit 36 is configured by a network interface or the like, and transmits and receives data to and from the modality 2 and the NAS 4 connected to the network 6 via a switching hub.

  The time measuring unit 37 is configured by an RTC (Real Time Clock) or the like, and measures the current time and the current date and outputs them to the control unit 31.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the NAS 4 is an external storage device that functions as an extended storage unit of the storage unit 33 of the medical image management device 3. The NAS 4 includes a control unit configured by a CPU or the like, a RAM, a storage unit, an HDD, a communication unit, and the like (not shown). When a medical image or the like is transmitted from the medical image management apparatus 3 and is instructed to be stored, the NAS 4 sends the transmitted file to the HDD through software processing in cooperation with a program stored in the control unit and the storage unit. Write and store (save). When an access request to the file stored in the NAS 4 is received from the interpretation terminal 5, the requested file is read and transmitted to the interpretation terminal 5. In the present embodiment, the HDD is applied as a storage medium for storing medical images in the NAS 4, but other storage medium, for example, a medium such as a DVD library may be used.

  The interpretation terminal 5 is a terminal for acquiring and displaying a medical image from the medical image management apparatus 3 for diagnostic interpretation by a doctor. When displaying the medical image on the diagnostic screen, the image interpretation terminal 5 requests the medical image management apparatus 3 to acquire and display the original image. Further, when displaying a list of medical images, thumbnail images are requested from the medical image management apparatus 3 to be acquired and displayed.

[Operation of Medical Image Management Device 3]
Next, the operation of the medical image management apparatus 3 will be described in detail.
FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the regular maintenance process executed by the control unit 31. The periodic maintenance process is executed in cooperation with the program stored in the control unit 31 and the storage unit 33 when a predetermined time such as night comes.

  First, the free space in the image storage area 334 of the storage unit 33 is calculated, and it is determined whether or not it is below a predetermined threshold (step S1). The predetermined threshold is 6 GB here, but can be changed by the operation unit 34 based on the image generation frequency in the modality 2 in the small-scale diagnosis system 1.

  If it is determined that the free space in the image storage area 334 is not less than or equal to a predetermined threshold (step S1; NO), the regular maintenance process ends. If it is determined that the free space in the image storage area 334 is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold (step S1; YES), a medical image to be moved and deleted is selected (step S2).

  In step S2, a medical image whose use frequency is lower than a predetermined standard is selected as a target for movement and deletion. In the present embodiment, whether or not the use frequency is lower than a predetermined reference is determined by whether or not a predetermined reference period has elapsed from the inspection date of the incidental information d2. This is because the access frequency to the medical image decreases as the elapsed period from the examination date becomes longer. Specifically, the current time and the current date are acquired from the time measuring unit 37, and a medical image in which a predetermined reference period (for example, three months) has passed since the examination date is searched in the database DB of the database area 332, The retrieved medical image is selected as a medical image to be moved and deleted. Whether or not the use frequency is lower than a predetermined reference is not limited to the elapsed period from the examination date, and may be determined based on the number of accesses to the medical image per predetermined time.

  When the medical image to be moved and deleted is selected, the original image of the selected medical image is deleted from the image storage area 334, and the permanent storage image of the selected medical image is read from the image storage area 334. Then, by being transmitted to the NAS 4 by the communication unit 36, it is moved to the NAS 4 (step S3). Further, the database DB is updated according to the movement and deletion of the medical image (step S4). Then, the regular maintenance process ends.

  In the NAS 4, the permanent storage image transmitted from the medical image management apparatus 3 is stored.

  FIG. 7 schematically shows the contents of the regular maintenance process. As shown in FIG. 7, when the free space of the image storage area 334 is less than 6 GB, the original image of the medical image that has passed three months or more from the examination date is deleted, and the permanent storage image is moved to the NAS 4 Is done. As a result, when the amount of information about a medical image that has passed three months or more from the examination date is set to 1 for the original image, the original amount is 1.71 to 0.21, and the free space in the image storage area 334 is secured accordingly. It becomes possible to do.

  When there is a request for a medical image from the interpretation terminal 5, the control unit 31 of the medical image management apparatus 3 stores a file corresponding to the medical image requested from the database DB stored in the database area 332 of the storage unit 33. If the location is acquired and the file storage location is the image storage area 334, the requested medical image is read from the image storage area 334 and transmitted to the interpretation terminal 5. When the storage location of the file corresponding to the requested medical image is NAS 4, the file storage location is notified to the interpretation terminal 5. When the image interpretation terminal 5 is notified from the medical image management apparatus 3 that the file storage location is NAS4, the image interpretation terminal 5 accesses the NAS4 and acquires a medical image.

  As described above, according to the small-scale diagnosis system 1, the control unit 31 of the medical image management apparatus 3 performs image processing when the free space in the image storage area 334 of the storage unit 33 is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold. A medical image whose use frequency is lower than a predetermined reference is selected from the medical images stored in the storage area 334 as a movement and deletion target, and the selected medical image is transmitted to the NAS 4 and stored in the NAS 4. At the same time, it is deleted from the image storage area 334.

  Therefore, since medical images whose usage frequency is lower than a predetermined standard are moved from the storage unit 33 to the NAS 4, the free space of the image storage area 334 can be secured correspondingly, and a new one due to insufficient storage unit 33 capacity. It is possible to prevent a decrease in the reception efficiency of medical images and a decrease in diagnosis efficiency due to an increase in the number of stored images. In addition, by setting only the usage frequency lower than a predetermined reference as the movement target, it is possible to prevent the influence on the reading speed at the time of the interpretation diagnosis.

  Further, by selecting a medical image to be moved and deleted based on the examination date included in the accompanying information, it becomes possible to easily select a medical image to be moved and deleted.

  Further, the use capacity on the NAS 4 side can be suppressed by setting the medical image to be moved as a specific type of medical image selected when the use frequency is lower than a predetermined reference. For example, a permanent storage image that has a smaller amount of information than the original original image and can reproduce the original original image is targeted for movement to the NAS 4, thereby reproducing the original original image while suppressing the used capacity in the NAS 4. It becomes possible to save as possible.

  In addition, the description content in the said embodiment is a suitable example of this invention, and is not limited to this.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, it has been described that the medical image to be moved to the NAS 4 is selected based on the examination date of the supplementary information. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the reception date of the medical image in the database DB May be stored, and a medical image to be moved may be selected based on the reception date.

  Further, for example, in the above embodiment, in order to prevent a decrease in access speed in the event that a medical image that has been moved and deleted is to be used, files such as reference images and thumbnail images are saved. These files are left in the image storage area 334, but these files may be moved to the NAS 4.

  In the above description, an example in which an HDD, a semiconductor nonvolatile memory, or the like is used as a computer-readable medium for the program according to the present invention is disclosed, but the present invention is not limited to this example. As other computer-readable media, a portable recording medium such as a CD-ROM can be applied. Further, a carrier wave is also applied as a medium for providing program data according to the present invention via a communication line.

  In addition, the detailed configuration and detailed operation of each device constituting the small-scale diagnosis system 1 can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Small scale diagnostic system 2 Modality 3 Medical image management apparatus 31 Control part 32 RAM
33 Storage section 331 System area 332 Database area 333 Reception area 334 Image storage area 34 Operation section 35 Display section 36 Communication section 37 Timing section 38 Bus 4 NAS
5 Interpretation terminal 6 Network

Claims (4)

A small-scale diagnosis system in which a medical image management device and an external storage device are connected via a communication network,
The medical image management apparatus includes:
A storage unit for storing medical images;
When the free space of the storage unit is less than or equal to a predetermined reference value, a medical image whose use frequency is lower than a predetermined reference is selected from the medical images stored in the storage unit, and this selection A control unit that transmits the stored medical image to the external storage device, stores the medical image, and deletes the medical image from the storage unit;
Small diagnostic system with An auxiliary information storage unit for storing auxiliary information of medical images stored in the storage unit;
The control unit selects a medical image whose use frequency is lower than a predetermined reference from the medical images stored in the storage unit based on the auxiliary information stored in the auxiliary information storage unit. The small-scale diagnosis system according to claim 1. The storage unit stores a plurality of types of images for one medical image,
The said control part transmits the specific kind of image of the medical image selected that the said usage frequency is lower than the predetermined reference | standard to the said external storage device, and deletes it from the said memory | storage part. Small-scale diagnostic system described in Computer
A storage unit for storing medical images;
When the free space of the storage unit is less than or equal to a predetermined reference value, a medical image whose use frequency is lower than a predetermined reference is selected from the medical images stored in the storage unit, and this selection A control unit that transmits the stored medical image to an external storage device connected via a communication network, stores the medical image, and deletes the stored medical image from the storage unit;
Program to function as.

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