JP2014121625A - Image diagnosis support system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide support in distinguishing whether or not a subject suffers from a predetermined disease by setting a plurality of regions in a tomographic image of the subject and comparing the tomographic image of the subject with tomographic images of those who belong to a specific group.SOLUTION: An image diagnosis support system according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises: a subject data storage unit 11; a normal healthy person data storage unit 12; a region data storage unit 20 for storing region data presenting a plurality of regions in tomographic images; means 15, 17, and 18 for determining whether or not each of the plurality of regions is a feature region where a tomographic image of the subject has characteristics different from those of a tomographic image of the normal healthy person by comparing the tomographic image of the subject with the tomographic image of the normal healthy person; a differentiation data storage unit 21 for storing differentiation data by diseases; and a matching unit 19 for comparing the result of determination with the differentiation data.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for assisting diagnosis of a disease by comparing an image of a subject with an image of a healthy person or the like.

  In recent years, an image diagnostic machine (X-ray CT (Computed Tomography), MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), ultrasonic diagnostic machine) that captures the state of the body as an image and makes an accurate diagnosis without imposing a heavy burden on subjects. , Radiation diagnostic machines, etc.) are indispensable in the current medical field.

  In the clinical field of nuclear medicine, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography using a radioisotope in the body of a subject and using gamma rays emitted from the radioisotope. Photography (Positron Emission Tomography, PET) is used respectively. As a result, it has become clear that blood flow in a specific part of the brain increases or decreases for each disease by taking and analyzing a tomographic image of the brain. Therefore, it is possible to extract the presence / absence of an abnormal site by comparing SPECT and PET images of a subject and a healthy person.

  Patent Document 1 describes an image diagnosis support system that compares tomographic images of a person belonging to a specific group such as a subject and a healthy person, extracts an abnormal part in the tomographic image of the subject, and performs diagnosis support. ing.

JP 2006-204641 A

  By the way, in a tomographic image, about a specific disease, a common characteristic may be shown according to a disease. The feature may appear at a plurality of locations in the tomographic image.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to set a plurality of regions in a tomographic image, compare tomographic images of subjects and persons belonging to a specific group, and identify whether or not the subject has a predetermined disease Is to do.

  An image diagnosis support system according to one aspect of the present invention is a system that supports diagnosis by comparing tomographic images of subjects and persons belonging to a specific group, and includes image data of a tomographic image of a subject for a predetermined portion; Image data storage means for storing tomographic image data of persons belonging to a specific group, area data storage means for storing area data indicating a plurality of areas in the tomographic image of the predetermined part, and tomographic image of the subject The tomographic image of the subject and the tomographic image of the person belonging to the specific group based on the image data, the image data of the tomographic image of the person belonging to the specific group, and the region data, For each of the regions, whether or not the tomographic image of the subject is a feature region having a characteristic different from that of the person belonging to the specific group Determining means for determining, for one or more diseases, differential data storage means for storing differential data for each disease that determines whether or not each of the plurality of regions is the characteristic region, and the determining means And an output means for comparing the determination result with the discrimination data and outputting the comparison result.

  In a preferred embodiment, the determination unit compares the tomographic image of the subject with a tomographic image of a person belonging to the specific group, and the tomographic image of the subject is different from the tomographic image of a person belonging to the specific group. For each of the plurality of regions, a predetermined feature amount based on the extracted feature portion is calculated, and each region is the feature region based on the calculated feature amount It may be determined.

  In a preferred embodiment, the determination unit calculates an index indicating an increase or decrease in blood flow based on image data of a tomographic image of the subject and image data of a tomographic image of a person belonging to the specific group, The feature portion may be extracted based on an index indicating the calculated increase or decrease in blood flow.

  In a preferred embodiment, the determination means calculates a Z value based on the image data of the tomographic image of the subject and the image data of the tomographic image of a person belonging to the specific group, and based on the calculated Z value, A feature part may be extracted.

In a preferred embodiment, the determination means specifies a relative increase portion where the Z value exceeds a predetermined threshold and a relative decrease portion where the Z value falls below the predetermined threshold, and the feature amount in each region is determined as follows:
Feature amount (1a) = sum of relative increase site Z values / area of relative increase site feature amount (1b) = sum of relative decrease site Z values / area of relative decrease site .

In a preferred embodiment, the determination means specifies a relative increase portion where the Z value exceeds a predetermined threshold and a relative decrease portion where the Z value falls below the predetermined threshold, and the feature amount in each region is determined as follows:
Feature quantity (2a) = (area of relative increase area / area of entire area) × 100 (%)
Feature amount (2b) = (area of relative decrease area / area of entire area) × 100 (%)
You may calculate by.

In a preferred embodiment, the determination means specifies a relative increase portion where the Z value exceeds a predetermined threshold and a relative decrease portion where the Z value falls below the predetermined threshold, and the feature amount in each region is determined as follows:
Feature amount (3a) = total sum of Z values of relative increase portions Feature amount (3b) = total sum of Z values of relative decrease portions may be calculated.

In a preferred embodiment, the determination means specifies a relative increase portion where the Z value exceeds a predetermined threshold and a relative decrease portion where the Z value falls below the predetermined threshold, and the feature amount in each region is determined as follows:
The feature amount (4a) = the sum of the Z values of the relative increase portions / the area of the entire region. The feature amount (4b) = the sum of the Z values of the relative decrease portions / the area of the entire region.

  In a preferred embodiment, the region data stored in the region data storage means may be a ROI (Region Of Interest) set for the tomographic image of the predetermined part.

  In a preferred embodiment, the region data stored in the region data storage means may be a segment in which the predetermined site is determined based on anatomical or functional classification.

  In a preferred embodiment, the determination unit further determines a feature level indicating the degree of the feature for the region determined to be a feature region, and the discrimination data stored in the discrimination data storage unit is a feature region. The feature level may also be defined for.

  In a preferred embodiment, the tomographic image of the subject and the tomographic image of a person belonging to the specific group may both be a normalized SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) tomographic image of the brain.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image diagnosis support system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. An example of the data structure of healthy subject data and standard deviation data is shown. An example of area data stored in the area data storage unit 20 is shown. The example of distribution of Z value in a tomographic image is shown. An example of the data structure of the discrimination data memorize | stored in the discrimination data storage part 21 is shown. An example of the display mode displayed by the display processing unit 30 is shown. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence in this system.

  Hereinafter, an image diagnosis support system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The diagnostic imaging support system according to the present embodiment supports diagnosis of a subject's disease by comparing SPECT tomographic images (hereinafter also simply referred to as tomographic images) of the brains of healthy subjects and subjects.

  FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration diagram of an image diagnosis support system 1 according to the present embodiment.

  An image diagnosis support system 1 according to the present embodiment includes an image diagnosis support system main body 10, an input device 2 connected to the image diagnosis support system main body 10, and a display device 3. The diagnostic imaging support system main body 10 is configured by, for example, a general-purpose computer system, and individual components or functions in the diagnostic imaging support system main body 10 described below are realized by, for example, executing a computer program. .

  The image diagnosis support system main body 10 includes a subject data storage unit 11 that stores image data of a subject to be diagnosed, and a healthy person data storage that stores image data of normalized healthy persons collected in advance. Unit 12, normalization processing unit 13 that normalizes subject data, Z value calculation unit 14 that calculates a Z value, and feature site extraction unit 15 that extracts a feature site having characteristics different from that of a healthy person from subject data An extraction condition table 16 that stores extraction conditions for extracting feature parts, a feature quantity calculation unit 17 that calculates feature quantities based on the feature parts extracted by the feature part extraction unit 15, and a plurality of regions in the image A region data storage unit 20 that stores region data for determining the region and a region-specific determination unit 1 that determines whether each region is a feature region based on the feature amount calculated by the feature amount calculation unit 17 And, for one or more diseases, a discrimination data storage unit 21 that stores discrimination data for each disease, a determination result of whether or not the region is a feature region, and discrimination data in the discrimination data storage unit 21 The matching unit 19 to be compared and the display processing unit 30 that displays the determination result of whether or not the region is a feature region by the region-specific determination unit 18 or the comparison result by the matching unit 19 on the display device 3 are provided.

  The subject data storage unit 11 stores voxel value data (hereinafter, referred to as subject data) 111 of the subject's SPECT tomographic image captured by the SPECT tomographic image capturing apparatus 5.

  In the healthy person data storage unit 12, an average value (hereinafter, referred to as healthy person data) 121 of the voxel value data of the brain tomographic images of many healthy persons collected in advance and the brains of many healthy persons are stored. Standard deviation data 122 of voxel value data of a tomographic image is stored. Since the shape and size of the human brain vary from person to person, the healthy person data 121 calculates an average value using tomographic image data of a normal person's standard brain normalized to a predetermined shape and size. It is a thing. Similarly, the standard deviation data 122 is obtained by using standardized tomographic image data of a normal brain of a healthy person.

  In this embodiment, a tomographic image of a healthy person is used, but a tomographic image of the brain of a person belonging to a specific group may be used in addition to the healthy person. For example, a tomographic image of a patient having a specific disease and a tomographic image of a subject (which may be a healthy person) may be used.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the healthy person data 121 and the standard deviation data 122. The healthy person data 121 in FIG. 11A is obtained from image data of N XY cross sections in the Z-axis direction, where the left-right direction of the head is the X-axis, the front-rear direction is the Y-axis, and the vertical direction is the Z-axis. Become. The voxel value included in each image data corresponds to the pixel value of each image. The standard deviation data 122 in FIG. 5B has the same structure as that of the healthy person data 121, and the standard deviation obtained at the same time when the healthy person data 121, which is an average value of a large number of healthy person data, is calculated. Stored.

  Referring to FIG. 1 again, the normalization processing unit 13 normalizes the subject data (voxel value data) stored in the subject data storage unit 11. Here, since the normalized subject data is compared with the healthy person data, the normalization processing unit 13 normalizes the same structure as the healthy person data 121. Note that subject data that has been normalized in advance may be stored in the subject data storage unit 11, or subject data that has been normalized by the normalization processing unit 13 may be stored in the subject data storage unit 11.

  The image diagnosis support system 1 compares the normal person image with the subject image based on the normal person data 121 and the subject data, both of which are normalized, and for each of a plurality of predetermined regions, It is determined whether or not the subject image is a feature region having a feature different from that of the healthy subject image. In the present embodiment, this determination process is performed in the Z value calculation unit 14, the feature part extraction unit 15, the feature amount calculation unit 17, and the region-specific determination unit 18.

The Z value calculation unit 14 compares the corresponding images (images of the same part) of the subject data and the healthy person data to calculate the Z value. That is, the Z value calculation unit 14 uses the subject data normalized by the normalization processing unit 13 and the healthy person data 121 and the standard deviation data 122 stored in the healthy person data storage unit 12 to calculate the Z value. calculate. The Z value calculation unit 14 calculates the Z value for all pixels (that is, all voxel values) of all the tomographic images of the normalized subject data using the following formula.
Z value = {(Voxel value of healthy subject data) − (Voxel value of subject data)} / standard deviation

  The extraction condition table 16 stores extraction conditions for the feature part extraction unit 15 to extract feature parts. The extraction condition stored here may be, for example, a Z value threshold. As the threshold value, for example, a specific threshold value (for example, +2.0, −2.0, etc.) may be used, or a value indicating the ratio of the Z value to the maximum value or minimum value in each tomographic image (for example, Z The maximum value or 80% of the minimum value).

  The area data storage unit 20 stores area data for designating a specific area in the target image.

  The area data may be, for example, data indicating ROI (Region Of Interest). For example, the ROI may be defined for each disease, or may be further defined for each disease severity (stage or progression) in addition to each disease. Here, the ROI is a region to be noted when diagnosing a disease in a SPECT tomographic image of the brain. That is, the disease-specific ROI is a region where a change in blood flow occurs in each disease. Therefore, in the ROI, different regions of different tomographic images are set for each disease and for each disease stage severity. A plurality of ROIs may be set for one tomographic image. Examples of brain diseases include Alzheimer's dementia, Parkinson's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, Machado-Joseph disease, and Olive Bridge cerebellar atrophy. The ROI is determined based on predetermined diagnostic criteria such as NINCDS-ADRDA and various examinations. For example, a disease group (a large number of patient data of a certain disease) and a healthy group (a large number of healthy data) are compared between groups, and the threshold is determined by a test statistic (t-test etc). Can do.

  The region data may be data indicating each segment region when the brain is divided into segments, for example. The segment region is each region (segment) when the entire region of the brain portion of the target image (the whole brain) is divided into a plurality of regions based on anatomical or functional classification. Here, the division based on the anatomical classification refers to, for example, a case where a brain region is divided into a cerebrum, a cerebellum, and the like. Since the anatomical classification is hierarchical, the segment areas may also be hierarchical. Functional classification refers to, for example, division into functional areas such as motor areas and language areas localized in each part of the brain. Each segment area is set based on predetermined anatomical or functional knowledge.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of area data stored in the area data storage unit 20. The figure shows the region data set according to the disease severity by disease such as “Alzheimer severity 1”, “Alzheimer severity 2”, etc., and “frontal lobe”, “parietal temporal lobe”, This is the segment area data. In each area data, for each tomographic image, “1” is set for pixels in the target area and “0” is set for pixels in other areas.

  Referring again to FIG. 1, based on the Z value calculated by the Z value calculation unit 14, the feature part extraction unit 15 extracts a part showing a feature different from that of a healthy person from the tomographic image of the subject as a feature part. For example, the feature part extraction unit 15 extracts, as a feature part, an area that is greater than or less than the threshold value according to the Z value threshold value shown in the extraction condition table 16. Here, in the case of the SPECT tomographic image used in the present embodiment, when the Z value is positive (that is, the healthy person data has a higher voxel value than the subject data), the blood flow of the subject is the blood of the healthy person. On the contrary, when the Z value is negative (that is, the healthy person data has a lower voxel value than the subject data), the subject's blood flow is greater than the healthy person's blood flow. Is shown. Therefore, in this embodiment, in the subject data, a portion where the blood flow volume is increased or decreased as compared with a healthy person is extracted as a characteristic part. This is because a specific disease is known to have an increase or decrease in blood flow at a specific location.

  In the present embodiment, the Z value is used for extracting the characteristic part. However, a characteristic part different from that of the healthy person may be extracted using an index other than this, such as a t value or an F value.

  In the feature part extraction using the Z value in the feature part extraction unit 15, for example, (A) threshold determination using a fixed threshold, and (B) determination by a threshold based on the maximum value and the minimum value of the whole brain, (C) There is a determination by a threshold based on the maximum value and the minimum value in each region. Hereinafter, (A) to (C) will be described with reference to a distribution example of Z values shown in FIG.

  (A) The feature part extraction unit 15 acquires a fixed threshold value from the extraction condition table 16, and extracts a part having a Z value exceeding the fixed threshold value. The fixed threshold is set for each of plus and minus. For example, it may be +2.0 and -2.0. As shown in FIG. 4A, the feature part extraction unit 15 extracts voxels having a Z value of +2.0 or more and −2.0 or less as feature parts (relative increase part 220 and relative decrease part 230).

  (B) The feature region extraction unit 15 first detects the maximum value 250 and the minimum value 260 in the whole brain region (the whole brain) of each tomographic image (see FIG. 4B). Then, the feature part extraction unit 15 acquires a ratio (for example, 75%, 80%, etc.) to the maximum value 250 and the minimum value 260 from the extraction condition table 16. As illustrated in FIG. 4B, the feature part extraction unit 15 extracts, as a feature part, a pixel having a Z value that exceeds the acquired ratio with respect to the maximum value 250 and the minimum value 260. For example, as shown in FIG. 4B, if the maximum value 250 is 6.5, the minimum value 260 is −4.6, and the ratio to the maximum value 250 and the minimum value 260 is 75%, voxels having a Z value of 4.9 or more are obtained. A voxel having a Z value of −3.5 or less is extracted as a relative decrease portion 280.

  (C) The threshold value determination process based on the maximum value and the minimum value in each region is different from (B) in that the maximum value and the minimum value are performed for each region. That is, the feature part extraction unit 15 acquires region data from the region data storage unit 20 and extracts the maximum value 250 and the minimum value 260 for each region 200 (see FIG. 4B). And the characteristic part extraction part 15 acquires the ratio (for example, 75%, 80%, etc.) with respect to the maximum value 250 and the minimum value 260 from the extraction condition table 16, and acquires with respect to the maximum value and minimum value in an area | region. Pixels having a Z value exceeding the ratio are extracted as feature parts (relative increase part 270 and relative decrease part 280 (see FIG. 4B)).

  In addition to the above (A) to (C), for example, a feature region is extracted using a threshold value based on an average value of each of a positive Z value and a negative Z value, or an average value thereof. The feature region may be extracted using a threshold of a predetermined ratio with respect to.

  The feature quantity calculation unit 17 calculates a feature quantity based on the distribution state of the feature parts extracted by the feature part extraction unit 15. In the present embodiment, the feature amount calculation unit 17 calculates various feature amounts using the region data stored in the region data storage unit 20.

  For example, the feature quantity calculation unit 17 calculates the feature quantities (1) to (5) based on the feature part extracted by the feature part extraction unit 15. A method of obtaining the feature amounts (1) to (5) will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 4 shows one region (for example, ROI) 200 in the tomographic image. That is, the region 200 includes a plurality of pixels 210 (in FIG. 4, the reference numeral is attached to only one pixel). The numerical value displayed on each pixel 210 is the Z value of that pixel. In the example of FIG. 4A, the relative increase portion 220 and the relative decrease portion 230 of the Z value are extracted by the feature portion extraction unit 15 with a fixed threshold (± 2.0). In the example of FIG. B, the maximum value 250 and the minimum value 260 are extracted by the feature part extraction unit 15, and the relative increase part 270 and the relative decrease part 280 of the Z value are extracted.

  Since the feature amounts (1) to (4) are calculated for each of the relative increase portion and the relative decrease portion, the feature amount corresponding to the relative increase portion is “a” such as the feature amount 1a. The feature amount corresponding to the relative decrease part is expressed by adding “b” like the feature amount 1b. Hereinafter, a calculation method of the feature amounts (1) to (5) will be described with reference to FIG. 4A.

That is, the feature amount (1) is determined as follows for each of the relative increase portion 220 and the relative decrease portion 230 (Severity).
Feature quantity (1a) = Z sum of relative increase portion 220 / area of relative increase portion 220 Feature amount (1b) = Total Z value of relative decrease portion 230 / area of relative decrease portion 230

  That is, an increase amount or a decrease amount per unit area (an average with respect to the area of the relative increase (or decrease) portion) in the relative increase portion 220 and the relative decrease portion 230 is shown.

  In the example of FIG. 4A, feature quantity (1a) = 3.6 and feature quantity (1b) = (−) 3.8.

The feature amount (2) is determined as follows for each of the relative increase portion 220 and the relative decrease portion 230 (Extent).
Feature amount (2a) = (area of relative increase portion 220 / area of entire region 200) × 100 (%)
Feature amount (2b) = (area of relative decreasing portion 230 / area of entire region 200) × 100 (%)

  That is, the feature amount (2) indicates the ratio of the relative increase portion 220 or the relative decrease portion 230 in the total area 200.

  In the example of FIG. 4A, the feature amount (2a) = 57% and the feature amount (2b) = 33%.

The feature quantity (3) is determined as follows for each of the relative increase portion 220 and the relative decrease portion 230 (Extent × Severity).
Feature value (3a) = sum of Z values of relative increase portion 220 Feature amount (3b) = sum of Z values of relative decrease portion 230

  In the example of FIG. 4A, feature quantity (3a) = 61.2 and feature quantity (3b) = (−) 38.0.

The feature amount (4) is determined as follows for each of the relative increase portion 220 and the relative decrease portion 230 (Extent × Severity (per unit area)).
Feature amount (4a) = Z sum of relative increase portion 220 / area of entire region 200 Feature amount (4b) = Total sum of Z value of relative decrease portion 230 / area of entire region 200

  That is, the feature amount (4) indicates an increase amount or a decrease amount per unit area in the area of the entire region (average with respect to the entire region area).

  In the example of FIG. 4A, feature quantity (4a) = 2.04 and feature quantity (4b) = (−) 1.30.

  The feature amount (5) is a method of determining a representative value by another method for each of the relative increase portion 220 and the relative decrease portion 230. As a method of determining the representative value of the relative increase region 220, for example, the maximum value, the second largest value, the third largest value, the median value, the mode value, the average value, and the average value thereof in the relative increase region 220 May be any one of a value indicating a predetermined ratio, an area of the relative increase portion 220, the number of pixels of the relative increase portion 220, or a capacity of the relative increase portion 220. Similarly, as a method of determining the representative value of the relative decrease portion 230, for example, the minimum value, the second smallest value, the third smallest value, the median value, the mode value, the average value, Any one of a value indicating a predetermined ratio of the average value, the area of the relative decrease portion 230, the number of pixels of the relative decrease portion 230, or the capacity of the relative decrease portion 230 may be used.

  Referring again to FIG. 1, the region-specific determination unit 18 determines whether each region determined by the region data is a feature region based on any feature amount calculated by the feature amount calculation unit 17. For example, the region-specific determination unit 18 uses the same type of feature amount calculated by the feature amount calculation unit 17 to determine whether each region is dominant in increasing tendency or decreasing tendency of the Z value. Then, based on the determination result, for each region, each region is a feature region having a Z value increasing tendency (blood flow decreasing tendency) or a Z value decreasing tendency (blood flow increasing tendency). It is determined whether it exists or not (no change in blood flow).

  When the Z value increases (blood flow decreases) or the Z value decreases (blood flow increases), the region-specific determination unit 18 further determines the Z value based on the magnitude of the feature value. Levels indicating the degree of increase or decrease may be divided.

  As a method for determining which of the increasing tendency and decreasing tendency of the Z value is dominant, for example, in the case of a region where only one of a relative increase portion or a relative decrease portion exists in the target region, It is assumed that the tendency in which the relative increase site or the relative decrease site exists is dominant. Further, when both the relative increase portion and the relative decrease portion exist in the target region, the relative value represented by “a” using any one or more of the feature amounts (1) to (5). The feature value corresponding to the increase may be compared with the feature value corresponding to the relative decrease represented by “b”, and the one having a larger absolute value may be dominant. For example, the feature value (1a) corresponding to the relative increase may be compared with the feature value (1b) corresponding to the relative decrease, and the one having a larger absolute value may be dominant. Furthermore, a level indicating the degree of increase or decrease may be determined based on the difference between the absolute values of the feature values.

  The discrimination data stored in the discrimination data storage unit 21 defines, for one or more diseases, a pattern as to whether or not each of a plurality of regions is a feature region for each disease. For example, FIG. 5 shows an example of the data structure of the discrimination data 21a.

  As shown in the figure, in the discrimination data 21a, a pattern as to whether each area 21c is a characteristic area is determined for each disease 21b. In the example of the figure, for example, in the case of “disease A”, blood flow decreases in “frontal lobe”, “parietal temporal lobe”, “posterior zonal gyrus”, and “ROR1”, and in “occipital lobe” When there is no change, it indicates that there is a high possibility of “disease A”. Here, “increase in blood flow” and “decrease in blood flow” may be divided into levels indicating the degree of increase and decrease, respectively.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the matching unit 19 compares the determination result as to whether or not the region is a feature region by the region determination unit 18 with the discrimination data 21 a. For example, when the increase / decrease tendency (increase, decrease, no change) of the blood flow in each region is acquired as the determination result of the feature region from the region-specific determination unit 18, the pattern and the pattern of the discrimination data 21a are matched. The matching result is displayed by the display processing unit 30 described below. At this time, if the determination result of the characteristic region and the discrimination data are divided into levels indicating the degree of increase or decrease in blood flow, the levels may be matched at the time of matching.

  The display processing unit 30 displays the feature amount calculated by the feature amount calculation unit 17, the determination result as to whether or not the region is a feature region, or the matching result by the matching unit 19 on the display device 3 for each subject. Let An example of the display mode displayed by the display processing unit 30 is shown in FIG.

  For example, the display processing unit 30 may display a display screen 300 as shown in FIG. 6A as a matching result. The display screen 300 of FIG. 6A includes a pattern 310 of discrimination data for a subject, and the determination result 320 by the area-specific determination unit 18 is superimposed on the pattern 310 and displayed. That is, on the pattern 310, a portion corresponding to the determination result 320 by the region-specific determination unit 18 is represented by a thick frame. As a result, the degree of matching between the feature region and the discrimination data can be grasped for each subject. In the figure, reference numeral 320 indicates only one location.

  In addition, the display processing unit 30 displays a feature amount calculated by the feature amount calculating unit 17 or a determination result of whether or not the region is determined by the region determining unit 18 on a display screen 400 as illustrated in FIG. 6B. Also good. That is, the display screen 400 in FIG. 6B is a graph display of the feature amounts for each region.

  Furthermore, the display processing unit 30 may display the distribution of the feature region in which the blood flow increases and decreases in one or both of the tomographic image and the brain surface display. At this time, the feature region where the blood flow is increasing may be displayed in a warm color, and the feature region where the blood flow is decreasing may be displayed in a cold color.

  Next, the processing procedure of this system will be described according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, this system acquires subject data from the SPECT tomographic imaging apparatus 5 and stores it in the subject data storage unit 11 (S11).

  Next, the normalization processing unit 13 normalizes the subject data stored in the subject data storage unit 11 (S12).

  Then, the Z value calculation unit 14 calculates a Z value using the normalized subject data and the healthy person data stored in advance in the healthy person data storage unit 12 (S13).

  When the Z value is calculated for all the images of the subject data, the feature part extraction unit 15 extracts a feature part whose Z value is equal to or greater than (or below) a predetermined threshold according to the extraction condition table 16 (S14). The feature parts extracted here are, for example, a relative increase part and a relative decrease part.

  The feature amount calculation unit 17 calculates a feature amount based on the region data stored in the region data storage unit 20 and the Z value of the feature portion extracted by the feature portion extraction unit 15 (S15). Here, one or more types of feature quantities are calculated.

  Based on the one or more types of feature amounts calculated by the feature amount calculation unit 17, the region-specific determination unit 18 determines whether each region is a feature region having a feature (S16). For example, it is determined whether each region is a region having a tendency to increase blood flow, a region having a decreasing tendency, or a region having no characteristics with respect to increase / decrease in blood flow.

  Finally, the display processing unit 30 displays the feature amount or the feature region obtained by the above processing on the display device 3 (S17).

  Accordingly, the differential diagnosis of the subject can be supported using the SPECT tomographic images of the subject and the healthy person.

  The above-described embodiments of the present invention are examples for explaining the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to those embodiments. Those skilled in the art can implement the present invention in various other modes without departing from the gist of the present invention.

  For example, in this embodiment, feature regions are extracted using tomographic images by SPECT, and diagnosis support is performed based on the feature regions, but in addition to SPECT, tomographic images by PET, X-ray CT, and MRI may be used. it can. Here, in the case of SPECT and PET images, in addition to the voxel value indicating blood flow, for example, an integrated value indicating increase / decrease in accumulation on the receptor may be used. Further, CT values may be used for CT images, and T1 values and T2 values (relaxation times) may be used for MRI images.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the data to be compared with the subject data is healthy person data, but besides this, for example, the average value of a large number of patient data of a specific disease and the subject data are compared. Also good. For example, when the patient data of the initial Alzheimer patient is used as the comparison target data, a characteristic region for the initial Alzheimer patient is extracted from the subject data. And if said evaluation is performed using the division | segmentation area | region data according to disease of late stage Alzheimer, the progress degree of Alzheimer can be determined. Furthermore, a feature region is extracted by comparing an average value of a large number of patient data of a certain disease (for example, frontal lobe Alzheimer) and subject data of the disease, and a feature is obtained using the region data of another disease (for example, depression). When the extent of the area is evaluated, it is also possible to distinguish between subjects who have another disease and those who do not.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image diagnosis assistance system 2 Input device 3 Display apparatus 5 Tomographic imaging device 10 Image diagnosis assistance system main body 11 Subject data storage part 12 Healthy person data storage part 13 Normalization process part 14 Z value calculation part 15 Feature part extraction part 16 Extraction Condition table 17 Feature amount calculation unit 18 Region-specific determination unit 19 Matching unit 20 Region data storage unit 21 Identification data storage unit 30 Display processing unit

Claims (14)

A system that supports diagnosis by comparing tomographic images of subjects and persons belonging to a specific group,
Image data storage means for storing the tomographic image data of the subject and the tomographic image data of persons belonging to the specific group for the predetermined part;
Area data storage means for storing area data indicating a plurality of areas in the tomographic image of the predetermined part;
Comparing the tomographic image of the subject with the tomographic image of the person belonging to the specific group based on the image data of the tomographic image of the subject, the image data of the tomographic image of the person belonging to the specific group, and the region data And determining means for determining whether or not the tomographic image of the subject is a feature region having a characteristic different from that of the person belonging to the specific group for each of the plurality of regions,
For one or more diseases, differential data storage means for storing differential data for each disease that determines whether or not each of the plurality of regions is the characteristic region for each disease,
An image diagnosis support system comprising: an output unit that compares a determination result obtained by the determination unit with the discrimination data and outputs the comparison result. The determination means includes
Comparing the tomographic image of the subject with the tomographic image of the person belonging to the specific group, the featured part of the feature that the tomographic image of the subject is different from the tomographic image of the person belonging to the specific group,
For each of the plurality of regions, a predetermined feature amount based on the extracted feature portion is calculated,
The image diagnosis support system according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether each region is the feature region based on the calculated feature amount.   The determination means calculates an index indicating an increase or decrease in blood flow based on image data of the tomographic image of the subject and image data of a tomographic image of a person belonging to the specific group, and the calculated blood flow The image diagnosis support system according to claim 2, wherein the characteristic part is extracted based on an index indicating increase or decrease.   The determination unit calculates a Z value based on image data of a tomographic image of the subject and image data of a tomographic image of a person belonging to the specific group, and extracts the characteristic part based on the calculated Z value. Item 3. The diagnostic imaging support system according to Item 2. The determination means specifies a relative increase portion where the Z value exceeds a predetermined threshold and a relative decrease portion where the Z value falls below the predetermined threshold, and the feature amount in each region is determined as follows:
5. The feature amount (1a) = the sum of the Z values of the relative increase portions / the area of the relative increase portion. The feature amount (1b) = the sum of the Z values of the relative decrease portions / the area of the relative decrease portion. The diagnostic imaging support system described. The determination means specifies a relative increase portion where the Z value exceeds a predetermined threshold and a relative decrease portion where the Z value falls below the predetermined threshold, and the feature amount in each region is determined as follows:
Feature quantity (2a) = (area of relative increase area / area of entire area) × 100 (%)
Feature amount (2b) = (area of relative decrease area / area of entire area) × 100 (%)
The diagnostic imaging support system according to claim 4, which is calculated by: The determination means specifies a relative increase portion where the Z value exceeds a predetermined threshold and a relative decrease portion where the Z value falls below the predetermined threshold, and the feature amount in each region is determined as follows:
5. The diagnostic imaging support system according to claim 4, wherein the feature amount (3a) = the sum total of the Z values of the relative increase portions. The feature amount (3b) = the sum of the Z values of the relative decrease portions. The determination means specifies a relative increase portion where the Z value exceeds a predetermined threshold and a relative decrease portion where the Z value falls below the predetermined threshold, and the feature amount in each region is determined as follows:
5. The image diagnosis according to claim 4, wherein the feature amount (4a) = the sum of the Z values of the relative increase portions / the area of the entire region. The feature amount (4b) = the sum of the Z values of the relative decrease portions / the area of the entire region. Support system.   The image diagnosis support system according to claim 1, wherein the region data stored in the region data storage unit is an ROI (Region Of Interest) set for the tomographic image of the predetermined part.   The image diagnosis support system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the area data stored in the area data storage means is a segment in which the predetermined part is determined based on an anatomical or functional classification. . The determination means further determines a feature level indicating the degree of the feature for the region determined as the feature region,
The image diagnosis support system according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the discrimination data stored in the discrimination data storage means has the feature level defined for a feature region.   12. The diagnostic imaging support according to claim 1, wherein the tomographic image of the subject and the tomographic image of a person belonging to the specific group are both normalized SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) tomographic images of the brain. system. Image data storage means for storing image data of a tomographic image of a subject and image data of a tomographic image of a person belonging to a specific group, and region data indicating a plurality of regions in the tomographic image of the predetermined region. An image diagnosis support system comprising an area data storage means for storing,
Comparing the tomographic image of the subject with the tomographic image of the person belonging to the specific group based on the image data of the tomographic image of the subject, the image data of the tomographic image of the person belonging to the specific group, and the region data Then, for each of the plurality of regions, it is determined whether or not the tomographic image of the subject is a feature region having a characteristic different from that of the person belonging to the specific group,
For one or more diseases, the discrimination data for each disease that determines whether or not each of the plurality of regions is the characteristic region is compared with the determination result, and the comparison result is output. , Diagnosis support method by image.   A computer program for realizing the diagnostic imaging support system according to claim 1 on a computer.

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