JP2010218091A - Medical image management system, medical image management device, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve diagnostic efficiency by preventing the deterioration of the reading speed of a medical image due to simultaneous access from a plurality of image-interpreting physicians to a single storage device. <P>SOLUTION: In a medical image management device 3 of a small-scaled diagnostic system 1, an image interpretation table 332, in which the NAS 4 of the medical image storage destination for each image-interpretating physician is predetermined is stored in a storage part 33 so that the medical image storage destinations of a plurality of the image-interpretating physicians on the same working day can be distributed. When the original image of a medical image is received by a communication part 36, a control part 31 generates a plurality of image files including the image file of image data d1 from the original image, and determines an image-interpretating physician who interprets the medical image, on the basis of accessory information d2 of the received original image, and determines the storage destination of the medical image to the NAS 4 corresponding to the determined image-interpretating physician on the basis of the image-interpretating physician table 332, and transmits the generated image file generated to the determined NAS 4 to store it. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a medical image management system, a medical image management apparatus, and a program.

  In a medical facility such as a hospital, a medical image management system that manages medical images obtained by examination imaging is used. In a medical image management system, data of medical images captured and generated by various medical image generation devices (referred to as modalities) such as CR (Computed Radiography) devices, CT (Computed Tomography) devices, and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) devices. The data is transmitted to the image server via a communication network installed in the hospital, registered in the database, and stored and managed in the image server.

  When a doctor interprets an image, the image interpreting doctor accesses an image server from an image interpretation terminal installed in each clinic and displays a medical image. At this time, it is important that the medical image to be interpreted can be accessed and displayed at high speed.

  For example, Patent Literature 1 describes a system that can divide a database according to the generation date of a medical image and efficiently search for a medical image.

JP 2005-149181 A

  However, in Patent Document 1, the database search can be performed at high speed, but if the subsequent image acquisition takes time, the diagnostic efficiency is not improved.

  An object of the present invention is to prevent a decrease in the reading speed of a medical image caused by a plurality of interpreting doctors accessing a single storage device at the same time, thereby improving diagnosis efficiency.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention described in claim 1
A medical image management system in which a medical image management device and a plurality of external storage devices are connected via a communication network,
The medical image management apparatus includes:
Receiving means for receiving a medical image and incidental information relating to the medical image from a modality for generating a medical image;
Storage means for storing a predetermined table in an external storage device of medical image storage destination for each interpretation doctor so that medical image storage destinations of the interpretation doctor on the same working day are distributed;
Corresponding to an interpreting doctor who interprets the medical image based on a table stored in the storage unit, determining an interpreting doctor who interprets the medical image based on the supplementary information of the medical image received by the receiving unit. Control means for transmitting and storing the medical image to an external storage device,
Is provided.

The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1,
In the table stored in the storage unit, the medical image storage destination for each of the interpretation doctors is set in advance so that the medical image storage destinations of the interpretation doctors on the same working day that interprets at least a specific type of medical image do not overlap each other. It has been established.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2,
The specific type of medical image is a medical image generated by a modality having the largest amount of information per medical image among modalities that generate a medical image received by the medical image management apparatus.

The invention according to claim 4
A medical image management apparatus connected to a plurality of external storage devices via a communication network,
Receiving means for receiving a medical image and incidental information relating to the medical image from a modality for generating a medical image;
Storage means for storing a predetermined table in an external storage device of medical image storage destination for each interpretation doctor so that medical image storage destinations of the interpretation doctor on the same working day are distributed;
Corresponding to an interpreting doctor who interprets the medical image based on a table stored in the storage unit, determining an interpreting doctor who interprets the medical image based on the supplementary information of the medical image received by the receiving unit. Control means for transmitting and storing the medical image to an external storage device,
Is provided.

The program of the invention described in claim 5 is:
A computer used for a medical image management apparatus connected to a plurality of external storage devices via a communication network,
Receiving means for receiving a medical image and accompanying information relating to the medical image from a modality for generating a medical image;
Storage means for storing a predetermined table in an external storage device of medical image storage destinations for each of the interpretation doctors so that medical image storage destinations of the interpretation doctors on the same working day are distributed;
Corresponding to an interpreting doctor who interprets the medical image based on a table stored in the storage unit, determining an interpreting doctor who interprets the medical image based on the supplementary information of the medical image received by the receiving unit. Control means for transmitting and storing the medical image to an external storage device
To function as.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent a reduction in the reading speed of a medical image due to simultaneous access by a plurality of interpreting physicians to one storage device, and to improve diagnostic 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 example of data storage of the radiology doctor table of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the medical image preservation | save process performed by the control part 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 medical image management system that manages medical images generated by the modality 2, and is applied to a relatively small 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 plurality of NAS (Network Attached Storage) 4, and a plurality of interpretation terminals 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 A file format conforming to the DICOM standard is attached to the image data d1 with additional information d2 including UID (UniqueID), examination information (examination ID, examination site, examination date, modality type, etc.), input patient information, etc. A medical image is generated and transmitted to the medical image management apparatus 3. Here, the DICOM format medical image 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 apparatus, CT apparatus, ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus (US), FPD (Flat Panel Detector), endoscope, MRI, and the like are applicable.

  The medical image management apparatus 3 is an image server that stores medical images in the NAS 4 and searches for medical images stored in the NAS 4 in response to a request 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 a system program and a processing program stored in the storage unit 33, expands the program in the RAM 32, and medical images described later according to the expanded program. Various processes including the storage 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 includes an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a semiconductor nonvolatile memory, or the like. The storage unit 33 stores various programs as described above.

  In addition, the storage unit 33 stores an incidental information DB 331 for managing medical images generated in the modality 2 and stored in the NAS 4. In the incidental information DB 331, incidental information d2 (UID, patient information, examination information) of the original image received from the modality 2 and file information (file name, storage destination) of a plurality of types of image files generated based on the original image. , File size, etc.), information of the doctor in charge of interpretation, etc. are stored as one record.

Furthermore, the storage unit 33 stores an interpreting doctor table 332 for storing information about interpreting doctors.
FIG. 4 shows a data storage example of the interpretation doctor table 332. As shown in FIG. 4, information on “interpretation physician”, “working day”, “special modality”, and “save destination” for each interpreting physician is stored as one record in the interpreting physician table 332. “Interpreting doctor” is an interpreting doctor ID (interpreting doctor identification information) for identifying the interpreting doctor. “Working day” is information indicating the day of the week on which the interpreting doctor works or the day of interpretation, and preferably includes the day of the week or day of interpretation at home or remote interpretation. “Specialized modality” is information indicating a modality specialized by the interpretation doctor. For example, “CR” indicates that the medical image generated by the CR apparatus is specialized, and “CT” indicates that the medical image generated by the CT apparatus is specialized. The “storage destination” is the device ID (device identification information) of the NAS 4 that stores the medical image handled by the interpretation doctor.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 4, the interpretation doctor table 332 is created so that “save destinations” are distributed for the interpretation doctors having the same “working day”. In the example of FIG. 4, there are four interpretation doctors working on Monday, but the medical image storage apparatus ID = NAS4_1 and interpretation image = DOC_2 medical image in charge of the medical image handled by the doctor with interpretation ID = DOC_1. Device ID = NAS4_2, storage ID of the medical image assigned by the doctor with interpretation ID = DOC_4 = NAS4_3, and device ID = NAS4_4 of the storage destination of the medical image handled by the doctor with interpretation ID = DOC_5 The NAS 4 for storing medical images is not duplicated. This is because when medical images handled by a plurality of interpreting doctors on the same working day are stored in the same NAS 4, access is concentrated on the NAS 4, and it takes time to read out medical images, and diagnosis cannot be performed smoothly. The configuration adopted in order to eliminate such an adverse effect by distributing the NAS 4 that is the access destination of the interpreting doctor on the same working day, and to enable a plurality of interpreting doctors to efficiently diagnose in parallel. It is.

  In the example of FIG. 4, NAS4 for the maximum number of interpreting doctors on the same working day (for example, 4 in FIG. 4) is required. However, when it is desired to reduce the number of NAS4, You may make it prescribe | regulate the "save destination" of the medical image which the interpretation doctor takes charge of. For example, the interpretation doctor table 332 may define the medical image storage destinations of the interpreting doctors having the same “working day” and the “special modality” as a predetermined modality. For example, the CR device has a high imaging frequency, and the amount of information generated per medical image is larger than that of other modalities. For this reason, when the storage destinations of medical images of a plurality of interpreting doctors on the same working day who are responsible for interpretation of medical images generated by the CR device overlap with the same NAS 4, the load is concentrated on the NAS 4, and the medical image is read out. It takes time, and an interpreting doctor who uses the NAS 4 as a medical image storage destination cannot perform an efficient diagnosis. Therefore, the “working day” is the same and the “special modality” is CR, that is, by dispersing the storage destinations of the interpreting doctors specialized in the interpretation of the medical images taken by the CR device so as not to overlap, The configuration is such that one NAS 4 is prevented from being loaded and can be interpreted efficiently.

  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, and a key pressing signal pressed by the keyboard and an operation signal by 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 as an external storage device includes a control unit including a CPU, a RAM, a storage unit, an HDD, a communication unit, and the like (not shown). When the image file is transmitted from the medical image management apparatus 3 and instructed to be stored, the NAS 4 sends the transmitted image file to the HDD by software processing in cooperation with the control unit and the program stored in the storage unit. Write and store (save). When an access request to the image file stored in the NAS 4 is received from the interpretation terminal 5, the requested image file is read out and transmitted to the interpretation terminal 5.

  The interpretation terminal 5 is a terminal such as a PC (Personal Computer) for acquiring and displaying an image file of a medical image from the NAS 4 for interpretation diagnosis by a doctor.

[Operation of Medical Image Management Device 3]
Next, the operation of the medical image management apparatus 3 will be described in detail.
FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the medical image storage process executed by the control unit 31. The medical image saving process is executed in cooperation with the program stored in the control unit 31 and the storage unit 33 when the original image from the modality 2 is received by the communication unit 36.

First, the received original image is temporarily stored in the RAM 32 (step S1).
Next, a new record is added to the incidental information DB 331, and the incidental information d2 of the received original image is registered in the incidental information DB 331 (step S2).

Next, a plurality of types of image files are generated based on the received original image (step S3). In step S3, for example, an image file in which image data d1 of the received original image is filed in a predetermined format (bitmap format), and an image file in which image data d1 of the original image is compressed into a file by the JPEG2000 method. Is generated.
Note that the type of the image file generated in step S3 only needs to include the image file of the received medical image data d1 itself used for interpretation, for example, a thumbnail image obtained by reducing the original image. Alternatively, an image compressed by JPEG P10, which is an irreversible compression method, may be generated.

  Next, an interpreting doctor in charge is determined based on the incidental information DB 331 (step S4). Specifically, a record in which the incidental information d2 of the original image matches the “patient ID” and “modality” is searched from the incidental information DB 331, and “inspection interpretation” of the record with the latest “examination date” among the retrieved records is searched. The interpretation doctor ID stored in “medicine” is acquired. The interpreting physician identified by this interpreting physician ID is determined as the responsible interpreting physician. In other words, among the past medical images taken with the same modality for the same patient as the original image, the interpreting doctor in charge of the interpretation of the most recently taken medical image is determined as the current interpreting doctor. When there is no record in which the incidental information d2 of the original image matches the “patient ID” and “modality” due to the patient's first visit or having not been photographed with modality 2 taken this time In the “special modality”, a record including “modality” used for imaging this time is searched from the radiographing doctor table 332, and any of the searched records is acquired, and is identified by the radiology interpreter ID. The interpreting physician is determined as the responsible interpreting physician.

  Next, based on the interpretation doctor table 332, a storage destination (medical image storage destination) of an image file generated based on the received original image is determined (step S5). In step S5, a record having the interpretation doctor ID acquired in step S4 is searched in the interpretation doctor table 332, and NAS4 designated by the “storage destination” of the searched record, that is, the determined interpretation doctor. NAS 4 corresponding to is determined as a storage destination of the image file generated from the received original image.

  As described above, the interpretation doctor table 332 is created so that the “storage destinations” are distributed for the interpretation doctors having the same “working day”. Therefore, by determining the storage destination of the image file in the NAS 4 that is the storage destination corresponding to the interpretation doctor based on the interpretation doctor table 332, the NAS 4 that is the access destination of the interpretation doctor on the same working day can be distributed. Each interpretation doctor can efficiently diagnose.

  Next, the series of image files generated in step S3 is transmitted by the communication unit 36 to the NAS 4 determined as the storage destination in step S5, and the storage destination NAS 4 is instructed to store (store) the medical image. (Step S6). In the NAS 4, when an image file is received from the medical image management apparatus 3, the received image file is stored in accordance with an instruction from the medical image management apparatus 3. Further, information indicating the storage destination of the transmitted image file and the interpretation doctor ID of the responsible interpreting doctor are stored in the record registered in step S2 of the incidental information DB 331 (step S7), and the medical image storage process ends.

  When information for identifying a medical image such as a patient name or examination ID is transmitted from the interpretation terminal 5 and an image acquisition request is made, the medical image management apparatus 3 determines the file storage location of the requested medical image from the incidental information DB 331. The search is performed, and the search result is transmitted to the interpretation terminal 5 as the request source.

  When the information on the storage destination is received from the medical image management apparatus 3, the image interpretation terminal 5 accesses the NAS 4 of the medical image storage destination based on the received information, acquires the medical image, and displays it on the display unit. To do.

  As described above, according to the small-scale diagnosis system 1, the interpretation doctor table in which the NAS 4 of the medical image storage destination for each interpretation doctor is determined in advance so that the medical image storage destinations of the interpretation doctor on the same working day are distributed. 332 is stored in the storage unit 33, and the control unit 31 of the medical image management apparatus 3 receives image data that is an image file for interpretation from the original image when the original image of the medical image is received by the communication unit 36. A plurality of image files including the image file of d1 are generated, and the responsible interpreting doctor who interprets the medical image is determined based on the accompanying information d2 of the received original image, and is determined based on the interpreting doctor table 332 The storage destination of the medical image is determined in the NAS 4 corresponding to the interpreting doctor, and the generated image file is transmitted to the determined NAS 4 and stored.

  Therefore, since the NASs 4 for storing medical images of the interpreting doctors on the same working day are distributed, access from a plurality of interpreting doctors is concentrated on one NAS 4 as in the conventional case, and the reading speed of medical images is reduced. Thus, a plurality of interpreting doctors can efficiently read medical images to be interpreted simultaneously in parallel. As a result, each interpreting doctor can make a diagnosis efficiently, and the diagnosis efficiency can be improved.

  In the interpretation doctor table 332, the “storage destination” for each interpretation doctor is a modality having the largest amount of information among modalities 2 that transmit medical images to at least the medical image management apparatus 3, for example, a medical apparatus generated in a CR apparatus. By pre-determining the doctors on the same working day who perform image interpretation so as not to overlap each other, it is possible to prevent the load on one NAS 4 from being concentrated and the reading speed of the medical image to be reduced, and each interpreting doctor can Diagnosis can be performed efficiently. Further, compared to the case where the medical image storage destinations of the interpretation doctors on the same working day are different NAS 4, it is possible to achieve access distribution while suppressing the number of installed NAS 4.

  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 embodiment, the image file is generated from the original image received from the modality 2 and stored in the NAS 4. However, the original image itself may be stored in 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 unit 331 incidental information DB
332 Interpretation doctor table 34 Operation unit 35 Display unit 36 Communication unit 37 Timekeeping unit 38 Bus 4 NAS
5 Interpretation terminal 6 Network

Claims (5)

A medical image management system in which a medical image management device and a plurality of external storage devices are connected via a communication network,
The medical image management apparatus includes:
Receiving means for receiving a medical image and incidental information relating to the medical image from a modality for generating a medical image;
Storage means for storing a predetermined table in an external storage device of medical image storage destinations for each interpretation doctor so that medical image storage destinations of the interpretation doctors on the same working day are distributed;
Corresponding to an interpreting doctor who interprets the medical image based on the table stored in the storage unit, determining an interpreting doctor who interprets the medical image based on the supplementary information of the medical image received by the receiving unit Control means for transmitting and storing the medical image to an external storage device,
A medical image management system comprising:   In the table stored in the storage unit, the medical image storage destination for each of the interpretation doctors is set in advance so that the medical image storage destinations of the interpretation doctors on the same working day that interprets at least a specific type of medical image do not overlap each other. The medical image management system according to claim 1, wherein the medical image management system is defined.   The medical image generated by the modality having the largest amount of information per medical image among the modalities that generate the medical image received by the medical image management apparatus is the specific type of medical image. 2. The medical image management system according to 2. A medical image management apparatus connected to a plurality of external storage devices via a communication network,
Receiving means for receiving a medical image and incidental information relating to the medical image from a modality for generating a medical image;
Storage means for storing a predetermined table in an external storage device of medical image storage destinations for each interpretation doctor so that medical image storage destinations of the interpretation doctors on the same working day are distributed;
Corresponding to an interpreting doctor who interprets the medical image based on a table stored in the storage unit, determining an interpreting doctor who interprets the medical image based on the supplementary information of the medical image received by the receiving unit. Control means for transmitting and storing the medical image to an external storage device,
A medical image management apparatus comprising: A computer used for a medical image management apparatus connected to a plurality of external storage devices via a communication network,
Receiving means for receiving a medical image and accompanying information relating to the medical image from a modality for generating a medical image;
Storage means for storing a predetermined table in an external storage device of medical image storage destinations for each of the interpretation doctors so that medical image storage destinations of the interpretation doctors on the same working day are distributed;
Corresponding to an interpreting doctor who interprets the medical image based on a table stored in the storage unit, determining an interpreting doctor who interprets the medical image based on the supplementary information of the medical image received by the receiving unit. Control means for transmitting and storing the medical image to an external storage device
Program to function as.

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