JP5575360B2 - Medical image management apparatus and medical image management method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a medical image management apparatus and a medical image management method for searching and displaying a medical image acquired by a medical image diagnostic apparatus according to a requested condition.

  A certain amount of image data generated by a medical image diagnostic apparatus such as an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, an MRI apparatus, or an X-ray CT apparatus is stored in a storage unit included in the apparatus, and is connected via a network. Centralized management in a medical image storage communication system (PACS) is also performed. This medical image storage communication system is connected to a hospital information system (HIS) and a radiation department information system (RIS) via a network. When performing image diagnosis, a doctor, an operation engineer, or the like (hereinafter simply referred to as an “operator”) reads a desired image directly from the storage unit of the medical image diagnostic apparatus, or uses HIS or RIS via a network. By reading out desired image data from the image data stored in the connected PACS, the past image data is compared with the latest image data, and the like, thereby improving the efficiency of diagnosis. Here, “HIS” is an abbreviation for Hospital Information System (hospital information system). “RIS” is an abbreviation for Radiology Information System (Radiology Information System). “PACS” is an abbreviation for Picture Archiving and Communication System (medical image archiving communication system).

  In a medical image diagnostic apparatus and PACS that store medical images (hereinafter referred to as “medical image management apparatus”), an image corresponding to a search condition stored in a storage unit is displayed in response to a search request. In this case, the above-described conventional apparatus for managing medical image information employs a method of specifying a search condition when actually acquiring a medical image and performing a search on all databases (see, for example, Patent Document 1). It was.

  Here, the configuration of a medical image management apparatus for performing a conventional search will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a medical image management apparatus for performing a conventional search. As shown in FIG. 5, in the conventional search, first, an operator inputs a search condition using the user interface 001. Next, the medical image management unit 002 performs a search for all medical images in the database 003 based on the input search condition, and extracts a medical image corresponding to the search result. Further, the medical image management unit 002 outputs the extracted medical image to the display control unit 004. The display control unit 004 displays the medical image input from the medical image management unit 002 on the user interface.

JP 2000-316814 A

  However, in recent years, medical image diagnostic apparatuses have been remarkably improved in speed and performance. Therefore, as the imaging speed increases, a plurality of imaging can be performed at the same time, and the range of parts that can be imaged in one examination increases, and the number of image data generated by the medical image diagnostic apparatus increases accordingly. . In addition, since the speed of image processing in conjunction with imaging is increased, the number of image data generated by the medical image diagnostic apparatus is increased, and the number of types of image data (for example, volume data, 4D data, etc.) is increased. This also increases the number of image data generated by the medical image diagnostic apparatus.

  With such an increase in the number of image data to be managed, in the method of executing a search together with information acquisition, the time required for list acquisition increases in proportion to the number of image data. Therefore, it is difficult to shorten the time required for medical image diagnosis, and the load on the patient also increases.

  Furthermore, since storage media such as memory have become cheaper and the storage capacity of the storage media has become enormous, the storage capacity of the storage unit arranged inside the medical image diagnostic apparatus becomes very large. It is coming. For this reason, even when searching for image data in the storage unit in the medical image diagnostic apparatus, the method of performing the search in accordance with the information acquisition takes time, and it is difficult to reduce the time required for medical image diagnosis. It has become.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and executes search processing in the background based on a preset search condition, stores medical image identification information corresponding to the search condition, and performs a search. An object of the present invention is to provide a medical image management apparatus and a medical image management method capable of accessing a necessary medical image using the identification information in response to a request.

In order to achieve the above object, the medical image management apparatus according to claim 1 is configured to search for medical images in a database based on a first search condition stored in advance based on an input from an operator. Search result management that stores medical image search means that is repeatedly performed in the background at the time of image update or periodically, and that stores identification information of the medical image included in the search result in association with the first search condition And when a request for the medical image is received together with a second search condition, and the second search condition exists in the first search condition, the second search condition stored in the search result management means Medical image management means for acquiring identification information of the medical image corresponding to the search condition of 2, and extracting the corresponding medical image from the database based on the acquired identification information of the medical image; Comprising display control means for displaying the medical image which issued to display means, wherein the medical image management means, by searching whether the second search condition exists in the first search condition, and it is characterized in the determination child the presence or absence of the second search condition in the first search condition.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a medical image management method for searching a medical image in a database based on a first search condition stored in advance based on an input from an operator; The search result management step of storing the identification information of the medical image included in the result in association with the first search condition, the medical image search step, and the search result management step are repeatedly performed in the background in advance. A request for the medical image is received together with a second search condition, and when the second search condition exists in the first search condition, the second search condition stored in the search result management means A medical image management step of acquiring identification information of the medical image corresponding to the search condition of 2, and extracting the corresponding medical image from the database based on the acquired identification information of the medical image; And a display control step of displaying on display means a medical image the extracted, in the medical image management step, by searching whether the second search condition exists in the first search condition , and it is characterized in the determination child whether the second search condition in the first search condition.

  According to the medical image management apparatus according to claim 1 and the medical image management method according to claim 7, a search corresponding to a search condition is performed in advance, and a search result previously performed for an actual search request is obtained. Based on this, medical images can be extracted from the database. Thereby, it is possible to shorten the search time at the time of medical image diagnosis. Further, since the search result stored in advance is only the identification information, the storage area can be kept small.

[First Embodiment]
A medical image management apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing functions of a medical image management apparatus according to the present invention.

  The medical image management apparatus according to the first embodiment has a configuration in which only one medical image management apparatus is arranged on the network of a medical facility. That is, the medical image management apparatus according to the first embodiment is an apparatus that is normally used by being disposed only in a medical facility because apparatuses such as an X-ray CT apparatus and an MRI apparatus are expensive and huge. Is targeted.

  The database 003 is a storage medium that stores data for a long time, such as a hard disk or a CD, and is arranged in the medical image management apparatus according to the present embodiment and in an external system such as a medical image information system (PACS). Or stored in an external medium such as a CD. The database 003 stores medical images taken in the past by the medical image management apparatus according to the present embodiment. The database 003 stores information for specifying a medical image such as an image ID and an examination ID in association with the stored medical image, and further, the examination date, examination contents, patient name, and patient of the medical image. Additional information such as ID, target part, examiner, image type, and related part is also stored.

  Prior to executing diagnosis by the medical image diagnostic apparatus while referring to images stored in the database 003, the operator inputs a search condition using the user interface 001 in advance. This search condition is a search condition regularly used by an operator who uses the medical image diagnostic apparatus. For example, as a result of the examination on the day, a part related to the examination and the type of image (normal image or contrast image) Or a unique condition for each operator such as an image taken by the operator himself. This search condition corresponds to the “first search condition” in the present invention. In addition, when an operator wants to refer to a past medical image at the time of actual medical image diagnosis, the operator uses the user interface 001 to input a condition of the image to be referred to, that is, a search condition. This search condition corresponds to the “second search condition” in the present invention. Here, in this embodiment, in order to use as much as possible the search condition included in the search condition stored and stored in advance, the search condition input in advance as the input method is displayed on the user interface so as to be selectable. From the operator. In addition, if a search is made with a condition other than the displayed search condition, it can be directly input. Here, as another input method, a method of inputting a necessary search condition directly without selecting the search condition may be used.

  The medical image search unit 005 stores the search condition input from the user interface 001 in its own storage area. The medical image search unit 005 periodically searches the database 003 for each stored search condition. In the present embodiment, when a test end signal is received from the HIS, the test is performed using the signal as a trigger. Here, the search timing is preferably determined according to the frequency with which the medical image in the database 003 is updated. For example, a search end signal is received from an external HIS or RIS, and the search is performed as a trigger. Alternatively, it is conceivable to perform a search once in the morning, or to receive a timing when an examination reservation is received from an external system and use that as a trigger for the search. The first search may be executed at the timing when the search condition is set. The medical image search unit 005 extracts the identification information of the medical image such as the image ID or the examination ID from the result of searching the database based on the search condition. Further, the medical image search unit 005 associates the extracted medical image identification information with the used detection condition and inputs the same to the search result management unit 006.

  The search result management means 006 stores the medical image identification information associated with the search condition input from the medical image search means 005 in its own storage area for each search condition. When the search result management unit 006 stores the identification information of the medical image associated with the same search condition as the search condition input from the medical image management unit 002, the search result management unit 006 inputs the information to the medical image management unit 002. The identification information of the medical image corresponding to the retrieved condition is output. When the input search condition exists in the search condition stored in the search result management unit 006, the search result management unit 006 sends the identification information of the medical image corresponding to the search condition to the medical image management unit 002. input.

The medical image management unit 002 checks whether the search condition input from the user interface 001 exists in the search condition stored in the search result management unit 006. In the present embodiment, whether or not the stored search condition exists can be confirmed based on whether or not the required search condition is selected from the displayed search conditions. If the input search condition is not in the search result management means 006, the search is executed for all the medical images existing in the database 003, and the medical image corresponding to the search condition is extracted. When the input search condition is in the search result management unit 006, the medical image identification information corresponding to the search condition is received from the search result management unit 006. The medical image management unit 002 extracts a medical image corresponding to the identification information from the database 003 based on the received identification information of the medical image. The medical image management unit 002 outputs the extracted medical image to the display control unit 004. Here, the confirmation of whether or not the input search condition exists in the stored search condition may be a method in which the medical image management unit 002 searches for the search condition in the search result management unit 006. A method may be used in which the image management unit 002 simply inputs the input search condition to the search result management unit 006 and determines that it exists when identification information is returned from the search result management unit 006.

  The display control unit 004 acquires the search condition that the search result management unit 006 has, and causes the user interface 001 to display the acquired search condition in a selectable manner. Further, the medical image input from the medical image management unit 002 is displayed on a monitor or the like included in the user interface 001.

  In the above description, the input unit and the display unit by the operator are collectively described as the user interface 001. However, these are a user interface for inputting a search condition in advance and a user interface for inputting a search condition when performing an actual image diagnosis. The display unit for displaying the medical image of the search result may be different from the display unit used when the user inputs the search condition or the like.

  Next, extraction of identification information corresponding to a search condition in the background and extraction of a medical image corresponding to a search request in the medical image management apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of extraction of identification information corresponding to a search condition in the background in the medical image management apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of medical image extraction / display corresponding to a search request in the medical image management apparatus according to the present embodiment.

(Operation of medical image search means and search result management means)
Step S001: If a search start trigger is generated by receiving a test end signal from RIS or HIS, the process proceeds to step S002. If no search start trigger is generated, step 001 is repeated, and the search start trigger is repeated. Wait for it to occur.

  Step S002: The medical image search unit 005 searches the database based on the search conditions stored in advance, and extracts the identification information of the medical image added to the medical image as a search result. Here, the pre-stored search condition is a condition that is regularly used for the search at the time of image diagnosis, and includes, for example, the date of examination, the site of the examination, the name of the operator who conducted the examination. The medical image search unit 005 outputs the search condition and the identification information of the medical image corresponding to the search condition to the search result management unit 006.

  Step S003: The search result management unit 006 stores the search condition input from the medical image search unit 005 in association with the identification information of the medical image corresponding to the search condition.

  The medical image management apparatus according to the present embodiment repeats steps S001 to S003 in the background.

(Extract and display medical images corresponding to search requests)
Step S101: The operator uses the user interface 001 to input search conditions for images to be referred to during medical image diagnosis.

  Step S102: The medical image management unit 002 determines whether the search condition input from the user interface 001 exists in the search condition stored in the search result management unit 006. If the input search condition is in the search conditions stored in the search result management unit 006, the process proceeds to step S103, and the input search condition is not in the search conditions stored in the search result management unit 006. If so, the process proceeds to step S104.

  Step S103: The medical image management unit 002 outputs the search condition input from the search result management unit 006 to the search result management unit 006. The search result management unit 006 extracts medical image identification information corresponding to the input search condition, and outputs the medical image identification information to the medical image management unit 002. The medical image management unit 002 extracts a corresponding medical image from the database 003 based on the medical image identification information input from the search result management unit 006.

Step S104: If the input search condition is not in the search conditions stored in the search result management means 006, the medical image management means 002 is input for all the medical images existing in the database 003. A search is executed according to the search conditions, and a medical image corresponding to the search conditions is extracted.
Step S105: The medical image management unit 002 outputs the extracted medical image to the display control unit 004. The display control unit 004 displays the input medical image on a monitor or the like included in the user interface 001.

  As described above, the medical image management apparatus according to the present embodiment sets a search condition in advance and periodically performs a search in the background, and acquires identification information of a medical image corresponding to the search result. Yes. The search condition used for the search performed in the background is a condition that is regularly used for the search at the time of diagnosis using an actual medical image. For example, the examination on the day, the related part, and the image main Such as a pair. For this reason, using the identification information of the already extracted medical image corresponding to the search result without performing a search for all the medical images at the time of image request based on the search condition when actually performing image diagnosis. Necessary medical images can be extracted. Thereby, the search time for the search request at the time of image diagnosis can be shortened, and the diagnosis time of the entire image diagnosis can be shortened. Further, since only the identification information of the medical image corresponding to the search result is stored in advance, an area for storing the search result in advance is compared with the case where the medical image obtained as the search result is stored as it is. It can be kept small.

[Second Embodiment]
A medical image management apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration on the network of the medical image management apparatus according to the present invention. The functional configuration of the medical image management apparatus in this embodiment is the same as that in the first embodiment, and a block diagram thereof is shown in FIG.

  The medical image management apparatus according to the second embodiment has a configuration in which a plurality of medical image management apparatuses are arranged on a network of medical facilities. That is, since the medical image management apparatus according to the second embodiment is inexpensive and small in scale like the ultrasonic psychosomatic tomographic value, it is usually intended for an apparatus that is used in a plurality of medical facilities. .

  In the present embodiment, the database 003 in FIG. 1 is arranged in each of the medical image management apparatuses 401a to 401d in FIG. 4 and a medical image information system 402 such as PACS connected via a network. Below, operation | movement of each means in the medical image management apparatus 401a is demonstrated. The same applies to the other medical image management apparatuses 401b to 401d.

  The medical image search unit 005 included in the medical image management apparatus 401a stores search conditions input in advance from the user interface 001. When the medical image search unit 005 receives a test end signal from the HIS or RIS, the medical image search unit 005 uses the database 003 as a trigger, the database 003 included in the other medical image management apparatuses 401b to 401d, and the medical image information system 402 The database 003 that has it is searched. The medical image management apparatus 401a extracts medical image identification information corresponding to the search result from the database. The medical image management apparatus 401a outputs the search condition and medical image identification information corresponding to the search result to the search result management unit 006.

  The search result management unit 006 stores the input search condition and identification information of the medical image corresponding to the search result in association with each other. Here, since the medical image management apparatus according to the present embodiment stores only the identifier of a medical image as a result of a search performed in advance and does not store the medical image itself, the capacity of a storage area for storing the search result Can be kept small. Therefore, storing search results performed in advance in each medical image management apparatus does not cause a load on the system. In this embodiment, each medical image management apparatus has a search result management unit 006, and each of the medical image management apparatuses stores the search result. One search result management unit 006 may be arranged on the network, and each medical image management apparatus may use one search result management unit 006. In this case, the medical image search unit 005 of each medical image management apparatus stores the search condition and the identification information of the medical image corresponding to the search condition in the integrated search result management unit 006. Further, the medical image management unit 002 of each medical image management apparatus sends a search condition to the integrated search result management unit 006, and receives identification information corresponding to the search condition from the integrated search result management unit 006. become. In response to a search request sent from the medical image management unit 002 arranged in any one of the medical image management apparatuses 401a to 401d, the search result management unit 006 stores a search condition in which the requested search condition is stored. If it exists, the identification information of the medical image corresponding to the search condition is output to the medical image management unit 002 that has transmitted the search request.

  When the search condition input from the user interface 001 exists in the search condition stored in the search result management means 006, the medical image management means 002 sends a search request based on the search condition to the search result management means 006. Send. Further, the medical image management unit 002 receives the identification information of the medical image corresponding to the search condition from the search result management unit 006. The medical image management unit 002, based on the received identification information, has its own database 003, a database 003 arranged in another medical image management apparatus 401b to 401d, or a database arranged in an external medical image information system 402. A corresponding medical image is extracted from 003.

  When the input search condition does not exist in the search condition stored in the search result management unit 006, the medical image management unit 002 is arranged in the database 003 and other medical image management apparatuses 401b to 401d that the medical image management unit 001 has. The database 003 and the database 003 arranged in the external medical image information system 402 are directly searched to extract a medical image corresponding to the search condition.

  The medical image management unit 002 outputs the extracted medical image to the display control unit 004.

  The display control unit 004 displays the input medical image on a monitor included in the user interface 001.

As described above, in the medical image management apparatus according to the present embodiment, a plurality of medical image management apparatuses are on the network, and the medical image corresponding to the search result searched based on the preset search condition is stored. Identification information is stored in each medical image management apparatus, and in response to a search request in each medical image search apparatus, using the stored identification information, each medical image management apparatus or external medical image management The target medical image can be extracted directly from the database of the system. As a result, even if it is not clear which medical image management apparatus (in this case, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, etc.) is used for inspection, the medical image to be used when the medical image management apparatus is actually used Since the image management apparatus always has the identification information of the medical image corresponding to the search result, it is possible to extract the medical image based on the search condition in a short time. Therefore, the medical image management apparatus according to the present embodiment can contribute to shortening the time for image diagnosis.

[Third Embodiment]
A medical image management apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The functional configuration of the medical image management apparatus according to this embodiment is obtained by adding a medical image list display unit 007 indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 1 to the first embodiment. Therefore, a list display of identification information of medical images will be described below.

  The operator inputs a search condition and a request for displaying a list of identification information of medical images corresponding to the search condition from the user interface 001.

  The medical image list display unit 007 receives a search condition from the operator and a command for displaying a list of identification information of medical images corresponding to the search condition, and inputs the search condition to the search result management unit 006. Next, the medical image list display unit 007 acquires the identification information of the medical image corresponding to the search result input from the search result management unit 006. The medical image list display means outputs the acquired identification information to the display control means 004.

  The medical image management unit 002 extracts the medical image identification information from the stored search conditions and the corresponding medical image identification information based on the search conditions input from the medical image list display unit 007. The extracted identification information is output to the medical image list display means 007.

  The display control unit 004 pastes the identification information input from the medical image list display unit 007 on a table template stored in advance, and causes the display unit to display the identification information.

  As described above, in the medical image management apparatus according to the present embodiment, a list of medical image identification information corresponding to the search condition can be acquired from the medical image management means. As a result, it is possible to easily display a list of medical images corresponding to the search conditions required at the time of medical image diagnosis. Therefore, the medical image diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment can contribute to shortening the time for medical image diagnosis.

Block diagram of medical image management apparatus according to the present invention The figure of the flowchart of the search process in the background in the medical image management apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment FIG. 5 is a flowchart of extraction and display of a medical image based on a search request at the time of image diagnosis in the medical image management apparatus according to the first embodiment. The block diagram which shows the network structure of the medical image management apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment Block diagram of a conventional medical image management device

Explanation of symbols

001 User interface 002 Medical image management means 003 Database 004 Display control means 005 Medical image search means 006 Search result management means

Claims (4)

Medical image search means for repeatedly searching for a medical image in the database based on a first search condition stored in advance based on an operator's input in advance in the background when the medical image is updated or periodically;
Search result management means for storing medical image identification information included in the search result in association with the first search condition;
When a request for the medical image is received together with a second search condition, and the second search condition exists in the first search condition, the second search stored in the search result management means Medical image management means for acquiring identification information of the medical image corresponding to a condition and extracting the corresponding medical image from the database based on the acquired identification information of the medical image;
Display control means for displaying the extracted medical image on a display means;
Equipped with a,
The medical image management means includes
By determining whether or not the second search condition exists in the first search condition, it is determined whether or not the second search condition exists in the first search condition.
Medical image management apparatus, wherein the this. When the second search condition exists in the first search condition, the display control unit receives the medical image identification information corresponding to the second search condition from the search result management unit. The medical image management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising medical image information list display means for displaying a list of identification information of the medical image on the display means. The first search condition is a condition for extracting the medical image that is predicted to be referred to when performing image diagnosis, and includes the date of examination, patient name, image type, and examiner,
Medical image management apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the second search condition is a condition for extracting a medical image to be referred to when performing actual said diagnostic imaging. A medical image search stage for searching for a medical image in the database based on a first search condition stored in advance based on an operator's input;
A search result management stage for storing identification information of the medical image included in the search result in association with the first search condition;
Repeating the medical image search step and the search result management step in advance in the background;
When a request for the medical image is received together with a second search condition, and the second search condition exists in the first search condition, the second search stored in the search result management means Acquiring medical image identification information corresponding to a condition, and extracting the corresponding medical image from the database based on the acquired identification information of the medical image; and
A display control stage for displaying the extracted medical image on a display means;
With
In the medical image management stage, the presence or absence of the second search condition in the first search condition is determined by searching for the presence of the second search condition in the first search condition. to decide
Medical image management wherein a call.

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