JP2012050473A - Mammographic imaging display method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display a suitable stereoscopic image without causing a visual field conflict between a radiation image for a right eye and a radiation image for a left eye when displaying the stereoscopic image by irradiating a subject with radiation from imaging directions inclined forward and backward when viewed from the subject to acquire two radiation images.SOLUTION: The subject is irradiated with radiation in the two imaging directions from two focal positions separated in a forward direction from a breast wall of the subject. The two radiation images detected by the irradiation of radiation are subjected to a masking process so that the radiation images in part of the breast wall side are masked. The two radiation images subjected to the masking process are used to display the stereoscopic image.

Description

  The present invention detects a radiographic image for each imaging direction by irradiating radiation from two different imaging directions to the breast of the subject, and uses the detected two radiographic images to generate a stereoscopic image. The present invention relates to a mammography display method and apparatus for display.

  Conventionally, it is known that stereoscopic viewing can be performed using parallax by displaying a plurality of images in combination. Such a stereoscopically viewable image (hereinafter referred to as a stereoscopic image or a stereo image) is generated based on a plurality of images having parallax obtained by photographing the same subject from different directions.

  Such generation of stereoscopic images is used not only in the fields of digital cameras and televisions but also in the field of radiographic imaging. That is, the patient is irradiated with radiation from different directions, the radiation transmitted through the subject is detected by a radiation image detector, and a plurality of radiation images having parallax are obtained, and these radiations are acquired. A stereoscopic image is generated based on the image. And by generating a stereoscopic image in this way, a radiographic image with a sense of depth can be observed, and a radiographic image more suitable for diagnosis can be observed.

JP 2007-229201 A JP 2004-188200 A

  Here, a mammography imaging apparatus has been proposed as a radiographic imaging apparatus that generates a stereoscopic image as described above, but many of the existing mammography imaging apparatuses are in a direction along the chest wall of a subject, that is, Since the radiation is irradiated from the imaging direction tilted to the left and right when viewed from the subject, the displayed stereoscopic image has a layout in which the chest wall extends along the horizontal direction (see, for example, Patent Document 1). .

  On the other hand, in the current two-dimensional breast image interpretation protocol in the medical field, the breast image is displayed in a layout along the vertical direction of the chest wall, so it is compared with a stereoscopic image with a layout along the horizontal direction of the chest wall. There is a problem that observation is difficult.

  Therefore, for example, in a mammography imaging apparatus, it is conceivable to irradiate radiation from an imaging direction tilted back and forth when viewed from the subject to obtain two radiation images, and thus in front of the subject. When radiography is performed by irradiating radiation from an inclined imaging direction, the radiation of the subject near the chest wall differs depending on the imaging direction, so the radiographic image for the right eye and the radiographic image for the left eye Thus, a difference occurs in the image near the chest wall.

  When a stereoscopic image is observed, if there is a difference between the radiographic image for the right eye and the radiographic image for the left eye as described above, there is a problem in that stereoscopic vision becomes difficult due to a visual field conflict.

  Note that Patent Document 2 proposes that in an X-ray tomosynthesis mammography imaging system, a radiation image is acquired by irradiating radiation from an imaging direction tilted back and forth when viewed from a subject. No proposal has been made regarding the problems in photographing such stereoscopic images.

  In view of the above circumstances, the present invention obtains two radiation images by irradiating radiation from the imaging direction tilted back and forth when viewed from the subject as described above, and displays a stereoscopic image when the right eye is displayed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a breast image radiographing display method and apparatus capable of observing an appropriate stereoscopic image without causing a visual field conflict between a radiographic image for left eye and a radiographic image for left eye.

  The breast image radiographing display method of the present invention irradiates the breast of the subject from two different radiographing directions, detects a radiographic image for each radiographing direction by the radiation irradiation, and detects the detected 2 In a breast image radiographing display method for displaying a stereoscopic image using two radiographic images, radiations in two radiographing directions are respectively emitted from two focal positions that are distant from the subject's chest wall in the forward direction, and the radiation is irradiated. A mask process is performed on the two radiographic images detected by the above-described method so that a part of the radiographic image on the chest wall side is masked, and a stereoscopic image is displayed using the two radiographic images subjected to the mask process. It is characterized by that.

  The breast image radiographing display device of the present invention includes a radiation irradiation unit that irradiates radiation from two mutually different imaging directions to a subject's breast, and a radiographic image for each imaging direction by radiation irradiation of the radiation irradiation unit. In a breast image radiographing display device comprising a radiological image detector to be detected and a display unit for displaying a stereoscopic image using two radiographic images detected by the radiographic image detector, the radiation irradiating unit is a subject. A radiation image in the vicinity of the chest wall is masked against two radiation images detected by the radiation image detector from two focal positions separated from the chest wall in the forward direction. A mask processing unit that performs the mask processing as described above, and the display unit displays a stereoscopic image using the two radiographic images subjected to the mask processing. And characterized in that.

  In the breast image radiographing display device of the present invention, the mask processing unit can perform blackening processing as mask processing.

  Further, the mask processing unit can perform a process of deleting a radiation image near the chest wall as a mask process.

  Further, the radiation irradiating unit can irradiate radiation perpendicularly to the breast from the direction in which the chest wall of the subject extends as one of the two imaging directions.

  Further, the display unit can display a stereoscopic image in which the extending direction of the chest wall of the subject in the two radiographic images is the vertical direction.

  According to the breast image radiographing display method and apparatus of the present invention, radiation in two radiographing directions is irradiated to the breast from two focal positions separated from the subject's chest wall in the forward direction, and detection is performed by the radiation irradiation. Since the two radiographic images are masked so that a part of the radiographic image on the chest wall side is masked, and the stereo image is displayed based on the radiographic image subjected to the masking processing, the right eye The radiographic image near the chest wall, the left-eye radiographic image, and the chest wall can be displayed in the same manner, and an appropriate stereo image can be observed without causing the above-described visual field conflict.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a breast image photographing display system using an embodiment of a breast image photographing display device of the present invention. The figure which shows the state which inclined the rotation arm part only by the convergence angle (theta) in the mammography imaging display system shown in FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration inside a computer of the breast image capturing and displaying system shown in FIG. The flowchart for demonstrating the effect | action of the mammography imaging display system using one Embodiment of the mammography imaging display apparatus of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the radiographic image for right eyes after a mask process, and the radiographic image for left eyes Schematic configuration diagram of a breast image photographing display system using another embodiment of the breast image photographing display device of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, a mammography imaging display system using an embodiment of the mammography imaging display device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the entire breast image photographing display system of the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a breast image capturing and displaying system 1 according to the present embodiment includes a breast image capturing apparatus 10, a computer 2 connected to the breast image capturing apparatus 10, a monitor 3 connected to the computer 2, and an input unit. 4 is provided.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the mammography apparatus 10 includes a base 11 and an arm portion 13 supported so as to be movable in the vertical direction with respect to the base 11.

  The arm portion 13 has an alphabet C shape, and a radiation table 16 is attached to one end of the arm portion 13 so as to face the imaging table 14 at the other end. The movement of the arm unit 13 in the vertical direction is controlled by an arm controller 31 incorporated in the base 11.

  The arm unit 13 is composed of two parts. Specifically, the arm unit 13 is the arm unit on the side to which the imaging table 14 is attached, and can be moved only in the vertical direction as described above. A rotation arm portion 13b that is connected to the support arm portion 13a so as to be rotatable about the rotation axis 12 in the direction of arrow A. It is configured. As shown in FIG. 2, the rotation arm 13 b rotates about the rotation axis 12, so that the radiation source 17 of the radiation irradiation unit 16 moves away from the chest wall of the subject M (forward direction). And will move. The rotation of the rotating arm portion 13b is also controlled by the arm controller 31.

  A radiographic image detector 15 such as a flat panel detector and a detector controller 33 that controls reading of a charge signal from the radiographic image detector 15 are provided inside the imaging table 14.

  Further, inside the imaging table 14, a charge amplifier that converts the charge signal read from the radiation image detector 15 into a voltage signal, a correlated double sampling circuit that samples the voltage signal output from the charge amplifier, A circuit board provided with an AD conversion unit for converting a voltage signal into a digital signal is also installed.

  The radiation image detector 15 can repeatedly perform recording and reading of a radiation image, and may use a so-called direct type radiation image detector that directly receives radiation and generates charges. Alternatively, a so-called indirect radiation image detector that converts radiation once into visible light and converts the visible light into a charge signal may be used. As a radiation image signal reading method, a radiation image signal is read by turning on / off a TFT (thin film transistor) switch, or by irradiating reading light. It is desirable to use a so-called optical readout system from which a radiation image signal is read out, but the present invention is not limited to this, and other systems may be used.

  A radiation source 17 and a radiation source controller 32 are housed in the radiation irradiation unit 16. The radiation source controller 32 controls the timing of irradiating radiation from the radiation source 17 and the radiation generation conditions (tube current, time, tube current time product, etc.) in the radiation source 17.

  Further, in the central part of the arm part 13, a compression plate 18 that is arranged above the imaging table 14 and presses against the breast, a support unit 20 that supports the compression plate 18, and a support unit 20 in the vertical direction. A moving mechanism 19 for moving is provided. The position of the compression plate 18 and the compression pressure are controlled by the compression plate controller 34.

  The computer 2 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a storage device such as a semiconductor memory, a hard disk, and an SSD, and the control unit 8a, the radiation image storage unit 8b, the mask as shown in FIG. A processing unit 8c and a display control unit 8d are configured.

  The controller 8a outputs predetermined control signals to the various controllers 31 to 35 to control the entire system. A specific control method will be described in detail later.

  The radiation image storage unit 8b stores in advance two radiation image signals detected by the radiation image detector 15 by photographing from two different photographing directions.

  The mask processing unit 8c performs mask processing on the two radiographic image signals stored in the radiographic image storage unit 8b so that the radiographic image signal near the chest wall of the subject M is masked. In the present embodiment, specifically, blackening processing is performed on the chest wall side end portions of the two radiation image signals. The mask process is not limited to the blackening process, and any process may be used as long as the end of the chest wall side of the two radiation image signals is represented by an equivalent image. You may make it perform the process which deletes the edge part by the side of the chest wall of a radiographic image signal.

  The display control unit 8d performs predetermined signal processing on the masked radiographic image signal subjected to mask processing in the mask processing unit 8c, and then causes the monitor 3 to display a stereo image of the breast of the subject M. Is.

  The input unit 4 is configured by a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse, for example, and receives an input of shooting conditions, a shooting start instruction, and the like by a photographer.

  The monitor 3 is configured to be able to display a stereo image using two radiation image signals output from the computer 2. As a configuration for displaying a stereo image, for example, a radiographic image based on two radiographic image signals is displayed using two screens, and one of the radiographic images is observed by using a half mirror or a polarizing glass. It is possible to adopt a configuration in which a stereo image is displayed by being incident on the right eye of the observer and the other radiation image is incident on the left eye of the observer. Or, for example, two radiographic images may be displayed in a superimposed manner while being shifted by a predetermined amount of parallax, and this may be configured to generate a stereo image by observing with a polarizing glass, or a parallax barrier method and a lenticular method As described above, a stereo image may be generated by displaying two radiation images on a stereoscopically viewable 3D liquid crystal.

  Next, the operation of the mammography / display system of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, the breast of the subject M is placed on the imaging table 14, and the breast is compressed by the compression plate 18 with a predetermined pressure (S10). At this time, it is assumed that the rotating arm portion 13b is installed in a direction perpendicular to the imaging table 14.

  When the photographer gives an instruction to start photographing using the input unit 4, the first radiographic image of the two radiographic images constituting the stereo image is photographed (S12).

  Specifically, first, as a first radiographic image, a radiographic image obtained by irradiating radiation perpendicularly to the breast from directly above the breast of the subject M, that is, from the direction in which the subject's chest wall extends, is taken. .

  That is, in a state where the rotating arm unit 13b is in a direction perpendicular to the imaging table 14, the control unit 8a performs radiation irradiation and readout of a radiographic image signal to the radiation source controller 32 and the detector controller 33. A control signal is output. In response to this control signal, radiation is emitted from the radiation source 17, and a radiation image obtained by photographing the breast from the 0 ° direction is detected by the radiation image detector 15. Then, the radiation image signal is read by the detector controller 33, subjected to predetermined signal processing on the radiation image signal, and stored in the radiation image storage unit 8b of the computer 2 (S14).

  Next, the control unit 8 a reads a convergence angle θ for capturing a preset stereo image, and outputs information of the read convergence angle θ to the arm controller 31. In this embodiment, θ = 4 ° is stored in advance as information on the convergence angle θ at this time. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an arbitrary convergence angle is set in the input unit 4 by the photographer. Is possible.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the arm controller 31 outputs a control signal to the rotary arm unit 13b so that the radiation source 17 rotates by θ ° in a direction away from the subject's chest wall. That is, in the present embodiment, a control signal is output so that the rotating arm portion 13b is rotated by 4 ° with respect to a direction perpendicular to the imaging table 14.

  Then, in accordance with the control signal output from the arm controller 31, the second radiographic image is taken in the state where the rotary arm portion 13b is rotated by 4 ° (S16).

  Specifically, the control unit 8a outputs a control signal to the radiation source controller 32 and the detector controller 33 so as to perform radiation irradiation and radiation image reading. In response to this control signal, radiation is emitted from the radiation source 17, a radiation image obtained by photographing the breast from 4 ° direction is detected by the radiation image detector 15, and the radiation image signal is read by the detector controller 33. After the signal processing is performed, it is stored in the radiation image storage unit 8b of the computer 2 (S18).

  Next, the two radiographic image signals stored in the radiographic image storage unit 8b are output to the mask processing unit 8c, and the mask processing unit 8c performs mask processing on the two radiographic image signals (S20). ). FIGS. 5A and 5B show an example of a masked radiographic image signal for the right eye and a masked radiographic image signal for the left eye that have been subjected to mask processing. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, a blackening process is performed on the chest wall side end of the radiographic image.

  Then, the two mask processed radiographic image signals subjected to mask processing in the mask processing unit 8c are output to the display control unit 8d, and the display control unit 8d performs predetermined processing on these mask processed radiographic image signals. Is applied to the monitor 3, and a stereo image of the breast is displayed on the monitor 3 (S22).

  In the breast image radiographing display system of the above embodiment, since the mask processing is performed on the vicinity of the chest wall of the two radiographic images as described above, the radiographic image for the left eye, the radiographic image for the left eye, and the chest wall. The vicinity can be displayed in the same manner, and an appropriate stereo image can be observed without causing a visual field conflict.

  In the breast image radiographing display system of the above embodiment, radiation images in two radiographing directions are respectively emitted from two focal positions separated from the subject's chest wall in the forward direction so as to take two radiographic images. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, it is possible to display a stereo image with the chest wall along the vertical direction. By displaying the stereo image in this way, it is possible to make the same orientation as the display at the time of interpretation of the conventional two-dimensional breast image, and these can be easily compared.

  Moreover, in the breast image radiographing display system of the above-described embodiment, radiation is irradiated from the 0 ° direction, that is, the direction perpendicular to the breast M, as one of the two radiation images constituting the stereo image. Since the radiographic image is taken, the radiographic image in the 0 ° direction can also be used for observation of a normal two-dimensional breast image.

  In the above embodiment, the rotation source 13b is moved to change the imaging direction by rotating the rotary arm 13b. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the breast imaging / display system shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the radiation source 17 may be moved by moving the radiation source unit 16 to the side away from the chest wall of the subject M in the horizontal direction (arrow B direction). The mammography display system 5 shown in FIG. 5 is the same as the configuration of the above embodiment except that the radiation source unit 16 can be moved in the horizontal direction as described above.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mammography display system 2 Computer 3 Monitor 4 Input part 8a Control part 8b Radiation image storage part 8c Mask processing part 8d Display control part 10 Mammography apparatus 11 Base 12 Rotating shaft 13 Arm part 13 Imaging stand 13 Arm part 13a Support arm portion 13b Rotating arm portion 13b Arm portion 13b Rotating arm portion 14 Imaging stand 15 Radiation image detector 16 Radiation irradiation portion 17 Radiation source 18 Compression plate

Claims (6)

Radiation is applied to the breast of the subject from two different imaging directions, a radiographic image for each imaging direction is detected by the irradiation, and a stereoscopic image is detected using the two detected radiographic images. In the breast image radiographing display method for displaying
Irradiating the radiation in the two imaging directions from two focal positions away from the subject's chest wall in the forward direction,
For the two radiographic images detected by the irradiation of radiation, a mask process is performed so that a part of the radiographic image on the chest wall side is masked,
A breast image radiographing and displaying method, wherein a stereoscopic image is displayed using two radiographic images subjected to the mask processing. A radiation irradiating unit that irradiates radiation from two different imaging directions to the breast of the subject, and a radiation image detector that detects a radiation image for each imaging direction by irradiation of the radiation of the radiation irradiating unit; A breast image radiographing display device comprising a display unit for displaying a stereoscopic image using two radiographic images detected by the radiological image detector;
The radiation irradiating unit irradiates the radiation in the two imaging directions from two focal positions separated from the chest wall of the subject in the forward direction,
A mask processing unit that performs a mask process on the two radiographic images detected by the radiological image detector so that the radiographic image near the chest wall is masked;
The breast image radiographing display device, wherein the display unit displays the stereoscopic image using the two radiographic images subjected to the mask processing.   3. The mammography display apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the mask processing unit performs blackening processing as the mask processing.   The mammography apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the mask processing unit performs a process of deleting a radiation image in the vicinity of the chest wall as the mask process.   The radiation irradiating unit irradiates the breast perpendicularly from the direction in which the chest wall of the subject extends as one of the two imaging directions. The breast image photographing display device according to any one of 2 to 4.   The display unit displays the stereoscopic image such that a direction in which the chest wall of the subject extends in the two radiographic images is a vertical direction. The breast image radiographing display apparatus of description.

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