JP5865638B2 - Medical image processing system - Google Patents

Description

  Embodiments of the present invention relate to a technique for generating medical images having different display modes based on acquired medical image data by distributing them to a plurality of servers and displaying them on a client.

  The medical image data obtained by various modalities such as CT (Computed Tomography), MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), or an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is subjected to image processing to generate a medical image, which is displayed on the client via the network. There is a medical image processing system. This image processing for medical image data generally has a high processing load, and the processing time tends to increase as the number of medical images to be generated increases. Therefore, there is a case in which a decrease in response (response delay) due to execution of image processing is prevented by receiving such reservation for medical image display and executing such image processing in advance before the reserved time. is there.

  On the other hand, when an operator such as a doctor in charge makes a diagnosis based on a medical image, a diagnosis result may be created while comparing a plurality of medical images having different display modes according to the diagnosis content. In such a case, since it is necessary to generate a plurality of medical images with different display modes, the load of image processing increases depending on the number of medical images to be generated, and processing takes time in one server There is. As a configuration for solving such a problem, there is a distributed processing system in which image processing is distributed to a plurality of servers. By using such a distributed processing system, it is possible to reduce the processing time by executing image processing related to generation of medical images in parallel on a plurality of servers.

  When image processing is performed using such a distributed processing system and the processing result is received from each server, the configuration for receiving the result needs to recognize which server is executing each processing. . However, when the image processing is performed in advance after receiving a reservation related to the display of the medical image, the processing related to the reservation from the client, the image processing for the medical image data, and the display of the medical image generated by the image processing The processing related to is executed asynchronously. In other words, since the client processing is not synchronized with the image processing to be distributed, it is difficult for this client to know how each image processing is distributed and processed by which server. Therefore, in such a case, it becomes difficult for the client to identify the servers that should receive the processing results and to match the processing results of those servers.

  On the other hand, when the client process is synchronized with the image process for the medical image data in order for the client to receive the processing result from each server, the server starts the image process in response to an instruction from the client. For this reason, it is difficult to execute image processing in advance, and image processing is executed when a medical image is displayed, resulting in a decrease in response due to this image processing.

JP 2011-7377 A

  An object of the embodiment of the present invention is to distribute image processing for medical image data to a plurality of servers in advance, and to match the processing results of these servers and display them on a client.

In order to achieve the above object, this embodiment has a plurality of image processing servers, and the stage of diagnosing a medical image group including medical images having different display modes on the operation screen is determined in a predetermined procedure in advance. The medical image group including the medical image of each display mode based on the medical image data and generating the medical image group at each stage is generated in the image processing server and displayed in the display area constituting the operation screen in accordance with the determined workflow. In the image processing system, for each workflow, for each display area in each stage, a workflow storage unit that associates and stores, as control data, a type of image processing corresponding to the display mode, and the medical use together with a reservation In response to the designation of the image data and the workflow, the control data of the designated workflow is obtained from the workflow storage unit. A workflow analysis unit to be determined, and causing the image processing server to execute the image processing based on the specified control data on the specified medical image data for the specified workflow for each display region And a distributed processing control unit that generates the medical image group and holds the medical image group in a readable manner at each stage of the designated workflow, and further relates to the reservation Upon receiving an instruction to output the operation screen, the medical image group corresponding to the display area in each stage of the workflow related to the reservation is sent from the image processing server that has generated the medical image group via the control unit. And a screen generation unit for generating the operation screen .

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a medical image processing system according to an embodiment. It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the medical image processing system which concerns on this embodiment. It is an example of the workflow for displaying a medical image. It is an example of the workflow for displaying a medical image. It is an example of the workflow for displaying a medical image. It is the figure which showed the flow of a series of processes of the medical image processing system which concerns on this embodiment.

(About workflow)
The medical image processing system according to the present embodiment displays a plurality of medical images with different display modes in a predetermined order when an operator performs diagnosis while browsing a medical image obtained by imaging a subject. Assist with diagnosis. In this case, the display mode of the medical images to be displayed and the order of displaying them differ depending on the contents of diagnosis. For example, in a certain diagnosis, the medical image processing system first displays a tomogram from a plurality of different directions to select an image to be diagnosed, and then superimposes information indicating blood flow on the selected image. . Accordingly, the operator can display a screen necessary for performing a desired diagnosis by operating the displayed screen. Corresponding to the contents of the diagnosis and each stage of the work related to the diagnosis, a predetermined procedure (that is, a display mode of medical images to be browsed and an order of displaying them) is called a workflow. The medical image processing system according to the present embodiment displays an operation screen in which medical images in a predetermined display mode are arranged in a predetermined order in order for an operator to make a diagnosis according to a specified workflow. The operator can perform a desired diagnosis by performing an operation according to the screen transition of the operation screen, and can generate data including the diagnosis content (for example, an interpretation report).

  Here, an operation screen output by the medical image processing system according to the present embodiment in accordance with a designated workflow will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3C. 3A to 3C show operation screens composed of two or more screens. FIG. 3A shows the configuration of the entire operation screen. FIG. 3B shows the detailed configuration of the screen V1. FIG. 3C shows the detailed configuration of the screen V2. The example shown in FIG. 3A shows a workflow operation screen based on a two-stage operation. Therefore, this operation screen is composed of two screens, a screen V1 and a screen V2, corresponding to each work stage of the workflow. A screen V1 shows a screen for selecting a tomographic image to be diagnosed. A screen V2 is a screen for inputting findings and diagnosis for the tomographic image selected on the screen V1 and generating an interpretation report. Details of the screens V1 and V2 will be described later. In the example of FIG. 3A, an operation screen composed of two screens is shown, but the number of screens may be changed according to the number of work stages constituting the workflow.

  Reference is now made to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3B, the screen V1 includes display areas V11A to V13A for displaying medical images and display areas V11B to V13B. The screen V1 is a screen for comparing medical images generated based on different medical image data. The display areas V11A to V13A and the display areas V11B to V13B are associated with medical image groups E11A to E13A and medical image groups E11B to E13B generated from different medical image data, respectively. These medical image groups are configured to include at least one or more medical images, and any one of the associated medical image groups is displayed in each display area. For example, the medical image groups E11A to E13A are generated from the medical image data D1 designated by the operator. The medical image groups E11B to E13B are generated from medical image data D2 that is different from the medical image data D1 designated based on an instruction from the operator.

  Further, the display areas V11A and V11B are associated with medical image groups E11A and E11B of axial images generated from the medical image data, respectively, and axial images at positions selected in the other display areas are displayed. Further, coronal image groups E12A and E12B generated from medical image data are associated with the display areas V12A and V12B, respectively, and coronal images at positions selected in the other display areas are displayed. The display areas V13A and V13B are associated with image groups E13A and E13B of sagittal images generated from medical image data, respectively, and a sagittal image at a position selected in another display area is displayed. The operator operates the screen V1 to select a medical image to be diagnosed. When a medical image to be diagnosed is selected by the operator, the screen V2 is displayed.

  Reference is now made to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3C, the screen V2 includes display areas V21A and V22A, display areas V22B and V22B, a display area V23, and input means V24. The screen V2 displays a medical image selected in the screen V1 by superimposing and displaying a medical image of another display mode such as blood flow information, and the operator displays a diagnosis result based on this display. This is a screen for input. In the display areas V21A and V22A and the display areas V21B and V22B, medical images having different shooting dates are displayed, as in the screen V1. In the display areas V22A and V22B, the medical images selected on the screen V1 are displayed as E22A and E22B. In the display areas V21A and V21B, medical images E21A and 21B in which the display mode is changed with respect to the medical images E22A and E22B are displayed. In the display area V23, medical images E22A and E22B and medical images E21A and 21B are superimposed and displayed. The input means V24 is an input interface for an operator to input a diagnosis result. The operator inputs the diagnosis result by operating the input means V24 while confirming the medical images displayed in the display areas V21A and V21B, V22A and V22B, and V23.

  As described above, the operation screen corresponding to the workflow is composed of one or more screens according to the number of work stages constituting the workflow. The medical image processing system according to the present embodiment stores an operation screen template in advance for each workflow. Upon receiving the designation of the medical image data and the workflow, based on this template, FIGS. 3A to 3C are used. An operation screen as shown is generated and output to the client 50. An operator can perform a desired diagnosis by performing an operation while confirming a medical image displayed according to a workflow, and can generate data (for example, an interpretation report) including the diagnosis content.

(Configuration of medical image processing system)
Next, the medical image processing system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a medical image processing system according to the present embodiment. The medical image processing system according to this embodiment includes an image acquisition unit 20, an image storage unit 30, image processing servers 40 </ b> A to 40 </ b> C, a control server 10, and a client 50. These configurations are connected via a network. Each of the image processing servers 40A to 40C is configured to be able to perform image processing for generating each medical image group corresponding to each workflow. Hereinafter, when the image processing servers 40A to 40C are not particularly distinguished, they are simply described as “image processing server 40”.

  The image acquisition unit 20 acquires medical image data for generating a medical image. Examples of the image acquisition unit 20 include various modalities such as CT, MRI, or an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The image acquisition unit 20 stores the acquired medical image data in the image storage unit 30 in association with the attribute information of the medical image data. The image storage unit 30 is a storage unit for storing medical image data. The attribute information includes, for example, information indicating modality, medical image data acquisition conditions (imaging conditions), patient information of the subject, identification information of the doctor in charge of the subject, and the like. This makes it possible to read out desired medical image data from the image storage unit 30 using the attribute information as a search condition. The image storage unit 30 may be configured as a data server, for example.

  Next, a detailed configuration of the medical image processing system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the medical image processing system according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the control server 10 includes a request receiving unit 11, a list output unit 12, a workflow analysis unit 13, a workflow storage unit 14, a distributed processing control unit 15, and a template output unit 16. It is configured to include. Each of the image processing servers 40 </ b> A to 40 </ b> C includes an image processing unit 41, a cache holding unit 42, and an image output unit 43. The client 50 includes an operation unit 51, a display unit 52, and a screen generation unit 53.

  In the medical image processing system according to the present embodiment, in response to designation of medical image data to be processed and a workflow, a plurality of medical images having different modes predetermined according to the workflow are generated, and these are displayed in a predetermined display mode. To the client 50. In the following, each is divided into “output of a list of medical image data” for selecting medical image data and “generation of output according to the workflow” that operates upon selection of medical image data and workflow. A configuration related to processing will be described.

(Output of medical image data list)
The request reception unit 11 receives an output request for a list of medical image data from the operation unit 51 together with a search condition for medical image data. Examples of the search condition include identification information of a doctor in charge, patient information, information indicating a modality, or acquisition conditions for medical image data. Upon receiving this output request, the request receiving unit 11 outputs the received search conditions to the list output unit 12 and instructs the list output unit 12 to output a list of medical image data. In response to this, the list output unit 12 outputs a list of medical image data corresponding to the search condition to the client 50. Thus, the operator can select desired medical image data.

  The list output unit 12 receives an instruction to output a list of medical image data together with the search condition from the request reception unit 11. Upon receiving this output instruction, the list output unit 12 searches the image storage unit 30 with the received search condition, and extracts medical image data corresponding to the search condition from the image storage unit 30. The list output unit 12 generates a list of the extracted medical image data and causes the display unit 52 to display the list. Thus, the operator can check a list of medical image data that matches the search condition, and can select desired medical image data from the list via the operation unit 51. In addition, the list output unit 12 causes the display unit 52 to display a list of workflows generated in advance according to the contents of diagnosis so that any one of the lists can be selected. The workflow list is stored in the workflow storage unit 14. Details of the workflow storage unit 14 will be described later together with processing related to “generation of output according to workflow”. As a result, the operator can select a desired workflow from the list displayed on the display unit 52 via the operation unit 51. The operation unit 51 transmits information indicating medical image data and information indicating a workflow selected by the operator to the request receiving unit 11. The list output unit 12 may associate the attribute information of the medical image data with information indicating each medical image data in the list so that the information can be referred to. Thereby, the operator can select desired medical image data while confirming the attribute information.

(Generate output according to the workflow)
Next, a configuration for generating an operation screen corresponding to the workflow based on the designated medical image data and the workflow will be described. The medical image processing system according to the present embodiment generates a medical image based on the medical image data acquired by the image acquisition unit 20 and causes the client 2 to display an operation screen on which the medical image is displayed. At this time, in the medical image processing system, a process of generating a medical image based on the medical image data is distributed to a plurality of image processing servers 40A to 40C based on the control of the control server 10.

  The request receiving unit 11 receives a reservation related to the output of the operation screen from the operation unit 51 together with information indicating the medical image data selected by the operator and information indicating the workflow. The request reception unit 11 outputs these pieces of information to the workflow analysis unit 13. Further, the request reception unit 11 notifies the template output unit 16 of reservation information for specifying the operation screen for which this output is reserved.

  The workflow storage unit 14 stores a template for generating an operation screen in association with information indicating a workflow so that it can be taken out. This template is a template for generating a series of operation screens corresponding to a workflow as shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C, for example, and information indicating each screen constituting the operation screen is displayed in the display order. It is memorized together. Further, as shown in FIGS. 3B and 3C, this template is configured to include a plurality of display areas for each screen constituting the operation screen. These display areas are associated with information indicating a series of image processing to be performed on medical image data in order to generate a medical image to be displayed. This image processing includes, for example, processes such as bone removal, multi-planar reconstruction (MRP), volume rendering (VR), maximum intensity projection (MIP), and the like. . The workflow storage unit 14 is configured to be able to output a list of workflows associated with each template.

  The workflow analysis unit 13 receives information indicating medical image data and information indicating the workflow from the request reception unit 11. The workflow analysis unit 13 extracts a template associated with information indicating the received workflow from the workflow storage unit 14. Hereinafter, the extracted template is referred to as “model V0”. Further, the workflow analysis unit 13 searches the image storage unit 30 based on the information indicating the medical image data, specifies the medical image data corresponding to the information, and associates the medical image data with each display area included in the template V0.

  For example, in the example of FIGS. 3A to 3C, the workflow analysis unit 13 extracts medical image data D1 and D2 designated by the operator from the image storage unit 30. For the screen V1 shown in FIG. 3B, the workflow analysis unit 13 associates the specified medical image data D1 with the display areas V11A to V13A. Accordingly, for example, the medical image group E11A can be generated by performing image processing associated with the display area in advance on the image data 1 associated with the display area V11A. Similarly, the workflow analysis unit 13 associates the specified medical image data D2 with the display areas V11B to V13B. For the screen V2 shown in FIG. 3C, the workflow analysis unit 13 associates the medical image data D1 with the display areas V21A and V22A. Similarly, the workflow analysis unit 13 associates the medical image data D2 with the display areas V21A and V22A. The workflow analysis unit 13 associates the medical image data D1 and D2 with the display area V23. As a result, the medical image generated from the medical image data D1 and the medical image generated from the medical image data D2 can be superimposed and displayed on the display area V23. In the following description, it is assumed that the operation screen shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C is generated.

  The workflow analysis unit 13 outputs the template V0 in which the medical image data D1 and D2 are associated with each display area to the template output unit 16 and the distributed processing control unit 15.

  The template output unit 16 receives the template V0 from the workflow analysis unit 13. In addition, the template output unit 16 receives reservation information for specifying an operation screen whose output is reserved from the request reception unit 11 (that is, an operation screen corresponding to the template V0). The template output unit 16 associates this reservation information with the template V0.

  The template output unit 16 receives an output instruction of the template V0 from the screen generation unit 53 together with the reservation information. The template output unit 16 transmits the template V0 associated with the received reservation information to the screen generation unit 53. In response to this, the screen generator 53 generates an operation screen based on the template V0. Details of the screen generation unit 53 will be described later. The template output unit 16 may acquire and specify the position of the client 50 including the screen generation unit 53 from, for example, the request reception unit 11. In this case, when receiving the information indicating the medical image data and the information indicating the workflow from the operation unit 51, the request receiving unit 11 may specify the address of the client 50 from the information indicating the transmission source.

  The distributed processing control unit 15 receives the template V0 from the workflow analysis unit 13. The distributed processing control unit 15 associates each display area included in the template V0 with information indicating one of the image processing servers 40 (that is, one of the image processing servers 40A to 40C), and based on these information A management table T1 is generated. Based on the management table T1, the distributed processing control unit 15 associates the information indicating the medical image data and the information indicating the image processing with the information indicating the display area, and the display area is associated with each display area. The image is transmitted to the image processing unit 41 of the image processing server 40. Receiving these pieces of information, the image processing unit 41 generates a medical image group to be displayed in the display area. When generating the management table T1, the distributed processing control unit 15 gives priority to a display area having a high processing load when generating a medical image group to be displayed, and an image processing server 40 having a low processing load at that time. May be operated so as to be associated with each other. In this case, the distributed processing control unit 15 receives information indicating its own processing load such as the CPU and memory usage rate from each image processing server 40 and identifies the image processing server 40 having a lower processing load. That's fine.

  Further, the distributed processing control unit 15 receives information indicating the display area and the address of the client 50 including the screen generation unit 53 from the screen generation unit 53. Upon receiving this information, the distributed processing control unit 15 refers to the management table T1 and identifies the image processing server 40 associated with the display area indicated by the information. The distributed processing control unit 15 notifies the image output unit 43 of the specified image processing server 40 of information indicating the address and display area of the client 50 and instructs the output of the generated medical image group. In response to this instruction, the image output unit 43 outputs a medical image group corresponding to the display area to the screen generation unit 53. Details of the image output unit 43 will be described later. Accordingly, the screen generation unit 53 can embed the medical image group received in the template V0 and generate an operation screen (for example, the screens V1 and V2).

  The image processing unit 41 receives information indicating medical image data, information indicating image processing, and information indicating a display area from the distributed processing control unit 15. The image processing unit 41 extracts medical image data corresponding to information indicating the received medical image data from the image storage unit 30. Based on this information, the image processing unit 41 performs image processing on the extracted medical image data, thereby generating a medical image group including at least one medical image. The image processing unit 41 stores the generated medical image group in the cache holding unit 42 in association with the information indicating the display area that has received the medical image group. The cache holding unit 42 is a storage unit for storing a medical image group.

  The image output unit 43 receives an instruction to output a medical image group from the distributed processing control unit 15 together with information indicating the address and display area of the client 50. The image output unit 43 extracts a medical image group associated with information indicating the notified display area from the cache holding unit 42. The image output unit 43 specifies the location of the screen generation unit 53 based on the address of the client 50. The image output unit 43 outputs the extracted medical image group to the image output unit 43.

  The screen generation unit 53 receives a display instruction for an operation screen reserved in advance from the operation unit 51 together with reservation information corresponding to the operation screen. The screen generation unit 53 transmits the received reservation information to the template output unit 16 and receives the template V0 from the template output unit 16 as a response. The screen generation unit 53 specifies a screen to be displayed first based on the information indicating the display order included in the template V0. In the case of the example illustrated in FIG. 3A, the screen generation unit 53 identifies the screen V1 as the first screen to be displayed among the screens V1 and V2 configuring the operation screen.

  The screen generation unit 53 transmits information indicating the display areas (that is, the display areas V11A to V13A and V11B to V13B) included in the identified screen V1 to the distributed processing control unit 15 together with the address of the client 50. Upon receiving these pieces of information, the distributed processing control unit 15 causes the image output unit 43 of the image processing server 40 associated with the notified display region to output a medical image group corresponding to the display region. For example, in the case of the screen V1, the medical image groups E11A to E13A and E11B to E13B are output to the screen generation unit 53 from the image output unit 43 of the image processing server 40 in the display areas V11A to V13A and V11B to V13B. The screen generation unit 53 generates the screen V1 as an operation screen by embedding the received medical image group in a display area corresponding to the screen V1 in the template V0. The screen generation unit 53 causes the display unit 52 to display the generated operation screen (that is, the screen V1).

  In addition, when the operator instructs to display the next screen via the operation unit 51 based on the operation screen displayed on the display unit 52, the screen generation unit 53 displays the display order included in the template V0. The screen to be displayed next is specified based on the information indicating For example, in the example shown in the example of FIG. 3A, the screen V2 is specified as a screen to be displayed next to the screen V1. The subsequent processing is the same as that for the screen V1. That is, the screen generation unit 53 transmits information indicating display areas included in the screen V2 to the distributed processing control unit 15, and receives a medical image group corresponding to these display areas from each image output unit 43. The screen generation unit 53 generates the screen V2 as an operation screen by embedding the received medical image group in a display area corresponding to the screen V2 in the template V0. The screen generation unit 53 causes the display unit 52 to display the generated operation screen (that is, the screen V2).

  Note that the screen generation unit 53 may be operated so as to generate a series of screens in advance without sequentially generating each screen as described above. In this case, the screen generation unit 53 notifies the distributed processing control unit 15 of information on all the display areas of the series of screens included in the template V0, and receives a series of medical image groups from the image output units 43. . The screen generation unit 53 embeds these medical image groups in the corresponding display area of each screen and generates a series of operation screens. After generating a series of operation screens, the screen generation unit 53 may display each screen on the display unit 52 based on the information indicating the display order included in the template V0. Further, the screen generation unit 53 is not limited to one screen at a time, and may be operated to generate a predetermined number of screens, for example.

  Further, in the above description, the configuration in which the screen generation unit 53 is included in the client 50 has been described. However, if it is possible to display the operation screen on the display unit 52 in response to an instruction from the operator from the operation unit 51, The position of the generation unit 53 is not limited. For example, a server including the screen generation unit 53 may be interposed between the client 50 and the control server 10 and the image processing server 40. Further, the screen generation unit 53 may be provided in the control server 10.

  Alternatively, the template output unit 16 may receive the management table T1 from the distributed processing control unit 15 and transmit the management table T1 to the screen generation unit 53 in association with the template V0. In this case, the screen generation unit 53 specifies the image processing server 40 that is a generation source of the medical image group corresponding to each display area without going through the distributed processing control unit 15, and the medical processing server 40 uses the medical processing server 40 to perform An image group can be acquired.

  Further, the request reception unit 11 may be interposed between the template output unit 16 and the screen generation unit 53. In this case, the template output unit 16 outputs the template V0 to the request reception unit 11. The request reception unit 11 stores the received template V0 and reservation information for operation screen output based on the template V0 in association with each other. The screen generating unit 53 may transmit the reservation information to the request receiving unit 11 and operate so as to receive the template V0 corresponding to the transmitted reservation information from the request receiving unit 11 as a response.

  Next, a series of operations of the medical image processing system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of a series of processes of the medical image processing system according to the present embodiment.

(Step S11)
First, the request receiving unit 11 receives a request for outputting a list of medical image data from the operation unit 51 together with a search condition for medical image data.

(Step S21)
Upon receiving this output request, the request receiving unit 11 outputs the received search conditions to the list output unit 12 and instructs the list output unit 12 to output a list of medical image data. Upon receiving this output instruction, the list output unit 12 searches the image storage unit 30 with the received search condition, and extracts medical image data corresponding to the search condition from the image storage unit 30. The list output unit 12 generates a list of the extracted medical image data and causes the display unit 52 to display the list. Thus, the operator can check a list of medical image data that matches the search condition, and can select desired medical image data from the list via the operation unit 51. In addition, the list output unit 12 causes the display unit 52 to display a list of workflows generated in advance according to the contents of diagnosis so that any one of the lists can be selected. The workflow list is stored in the workflow storage unit 14. Thereby, the operator can select desired medical image data while confirming the attribute information.

(Step S12)
Next, the request accepting unit 11 receives a reservation related to the output of the operation screen from the operation unit 51 together with information indicating the medical image data selected by the operator and information indicating the workflow. The request reception unit 11 outputs these pieces of information to the workflow analysis unit 13. Further, the request reception unit 11 notifies the template output unit 16 of reservation information for specifying the operation screen for which this output is reserved.

(Step S22)
The workflow analysis unit 13 receives information indicating medical image data and information indicating the workflow from the request reception unit 11. The workflow analysis unit 13 extracts the template V0 associated with information indicating the received workflow from the workflow storage unit 14.

(Step S23)
Further, the workflow analysis unit 13 searches the image storage unit 30 based on the information indicating the medical image data, specifies the medical image data corresponding to the information, and associates the medical image data with each display area included in the template V0. For example, in the example of FIGS. 3A to 3C, the workflow analysis unit 13 specifies medical image data D1 and D2 designated by the operator from the image storage unit 30. For the screen V1 shown in FIG. 3B, the workflow analysis unit 13 associates the specified medical image data D1 with the display areas V11A to V13A. For the screen V2 shown in FIG. 3C, the workflow analysis unit 13 associates the medical image data D1 with the display areas V21A and V22A. Similarly, the workflow analysis unit 13 associates the medical image data D2 with the display areas V21A and V22A. The workflow analysis unit 13 associates the medical image data D1 and D2 with the display area V23. In the following description, it is assumed that the operation screen shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C is generated.

(Step S24)
The workflow analysis unit 13 outputs the template V0 in which the medical image data D1 and D2 are associated with each display area to the template output unit 16 and the distributed processing control unit 15.

  The template output unit 16 receives the template V0 from the workflow analysis unit 13. In addition, the template output unit 16 receives reservation information for specifying an operation screen whose output is reserved from the request reception unit 11 (that is, an operation screen corresponding to the template V0). The template output unit 16 associates this reservation information with the template V0.

  The distributed processing control unit 15 receives the template V0 from the workflow analysis unit 13. The distributed processing control unit 15 associates each display area included in the template V0 with information indicating one of the image processing servers 40 (that is, one of the image processing servers 40A to 40C), and based on these information A management table T1 is generated. Based on the management table T1, the distributed processing control unit 15 associates the information indicating the medical image data and the information indicating the image processing with the information indicating the display area, and the display area is associated with each display area. It transmits to the image processing server 40.

(Step S31)
The image processing unit 41 receives information indicating medical image data, information indicating image processing, and information indicating a display area from the distributed processing control unit 15. The image processing unit 41 extracts medical image data corresponding to information indicating the received medical image data from the image storage unit 30. Based on this information, the image processing unit 41 performs image processing on the extracted medical image data, thereby generating a medical image group including at least one medical image. The image processing unit 41 stores the generated medical image group in the cache holding unit 42 in association with the information indicating the display area that has received the medical image group.

(Step S13)
The screen generation unit 53 receives a display instruction for an operation screen reserved in advance from the operation unit 51 together with reservation information corresponding to the operation screen. The screen generation unit 53 transmits the received reservation information to the template output unit 16.

(Step S25)
The template output unit 16 receives an output instruction of the template V0 from the screen generation unit 53 together with the reservation information. The template output unit 16 transmits the template V0 associated with the received reservation information to the screen generation unit 53.

(Step S14)
The screen generation unit 53 specifies a screen to be displayed first based on the information indicating the display order included in the template V0. In the case of the example illustrated in FIG. 3A, the screen generation unit 53 identifies the screen V1 as the first screen to be displayed among the screens V1 and V2 configuring the operation screen. The screen generation unit 53 transmits information indicating the display areas (that is, the display areas V11A to V13A and V11B to V13B) included in the identified screen V1 to the distributed processing control unit 15 together with the address of the client 50.

(Step S26)
The distributed processing control unit 15 receives information indicating the display area and the address of the client 50 including the screen generation unit 53 from the screen generation unit 53. Upon receiving this information, the distributed processing control unit 15 refers to the management table T1 and identifies the image processing server 40 associated with the display area indicated by the information. The distributed processing control unit 15 notifies the image output unit 43 of the specified image processing server 40 of information indicating the address and display area of the client 50 and instructs the output of the generated medical image group.

(Step S32)
The image output unit 43 receives an instruction to output a medical image group from the distributed processing control unit 15 together with information indicating the address and display area of the client 50. The image output unit 43 extracts a medical image group associated with information indicating the notified display area from the cache holding unit 42. The image output unit 43 specifies the location of the screen generation unit 53 based on the address of the client 50. The image output unit 43 outputs the extracted medical image group to the image output unit 43.

(Step S14)
The screen generation unit 53 generates the screen V1 as an operation screen by embedding the received medical image group in a display area corresponding to the screen V1 in the template V0. The screen generation unit 53 causes the display unit 52 to display the generated operation screen (that is, the screen V1).

  In addition, when the operator instructs to display the next screen via the operation unit 51 based on the operation screen displayed on the display unit 52, the screen generation unit 53 displays the display order included in the template V0. The screen to be displayed next is specified based on the information indicating For example, in the example shown in the example of FIG. 3A, the screen V2 is specified as a screen to be displayed next to the screen V1. The subsequent processing is the same as that for the screen V1. That is, the screen generation unit 53 transmits information indicating display areas included in the screen V2 to the distributed processing control unit 15, and receives a medical image group corresponding to these display areas from each image output unit 43. The screen generation unit 53 generates the screen V2 as an operation screen by embedding the received medical image group in a display area corresponding to the screen V2 in the template V0. The screen generation unit 53 causes the display unit 52 to display the generated operation screen (that is, the screen V2).

  As described above, the medical image processing system according to the present embodiment generates each medical image group constituting the operation screen corresponding to the workflow for each display area (that is, for each medical image group corresponding to the display area). Are distributed to a plurality of image processing servers 40. As a result, even when a plurality of medical image groups are generated, the processing time of image processing can be shortened. Further, in the generation of the operation screen based on the workflow, the transmission / reception of the medical image group between each image processing server 40 and the client 50 is controlled based on the management table T1 generated by the distributed processing control unit 15. As a result, even when the processing related to the reservation from the client 50, the image processing on the medical image data, and the processing related to the display of the generated medical image group are executed asynchronously, the client 50 Can be received from the image processing server 40 that generated the medical image group.

(Modification)
Next, a medical image processing system according to a modification will be described. In the above embodiment, an example in which an operation screen corresponding to a specified workflow is generated and displayed based on medical image data acquired in advance has been described. In the medical image processing system according to the modified example, when the image acquisition unit 20 acquires medical image data, the workflow is specified according to the type of the medical image data, and each medical image group corresponding to the workflow is generated in advance. Let Hereinafter, the configuration of the medical image processing system according to the modified example will be described by focusing on portions different from the above-described embodiment.

  The image acquisition unit 20 acquires medical image data for generating a medical image. The image acquisition unit 20 stores the acquired medical image data in the image storage unit 30 in association with the attribute information of the medical image data. This operation is the same as in the above-described embodiment. Next, the image acquisition unit 20 combines information indicating the acquired medical image data and information indicating the type of the medical image data (for example, information indicating the modality and attribute information such as an acquisition condition of the image location). The request reception unit 11 is notified.

  The request receiving unit 11 stores information indicating the type of medical image data and information indicating the workflow in advance in association with each other. In this case, for example, workflow information that is most frequently used for that type of medical image data may be associated with information indicating the medical image data. The request reception unit 11 receives information indicating medical image data and information indicating the type of the medical image data from the image acquisition unit 20. The request reception unit 11 identifies information indicating a workflow associated with information indicating the type of received medical image data. The request reception unit 11 outputs information indicating the identified workflow and information indicating the medical image data received from the image acquisition unit 20 to the workflow analysis unit 13. Subsequent operations are the same as those in the above-described embodiment, and a medical image group corresponding to the identified workflow is generated based on the medical image data.

  As described above, according to the medical image processing system according to the present embodiment, when medical image data is acquired, the workflow corresponding to the type of the medical image data is specified, and the medical image group to be displayed in the workflow Is generated in advance. Thus, for example, for a workflow associated with the type, a related medical image group is generated in advance before receiving a reservation related to the display of the operation screen. Thereby, the processing time is shortened from the reception of the reservation related to the display of the operation screen to the display of the operation screen, and the response related to the display of the operation screen is improved.

  Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention and are included in the equivalent scope described in the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Control server 11 Request reception part 12 List output part 13 Workflow analysis part 14 Workflow storage part 15 Distributed processing control part 16 Model output part 20 Image acquisition part 30 Image storage part 40A, 40B, 40C Image processing server 41 Image processing part 42 Cache holding unit 43 Image output unit 50 Client 51 Operation unit 52 Display unit 53 Screen generation unit

Claims (4)

Each of the displays based on medical image data has a plurality of image processing servers, and a stage in which a diagnosis is performed while browsing a group of medical images including medical images with different display modes on the operation screen in accordance with a workflow determined in advance by a predetermined procedure. A medical image processing system that causes the image processing server to generate the medical image group at each stage including the medical image of the aspect, and displays the medical image group on a display area that configures the operation screen.
For each workflow, for each display area in each stage, a workflow storage unit that associates a type of image processing according to the display mode and stores it as control data;
A workflow analysis unit that receives the designation of the medical image data and the workflow together with the reservation and identifies the control data of the designated workflow from the workflow storage unit;
The medical image group is generated by causing the image processing server to execute the image processing based on the specified control data on the specified medical image data for the specified workflow for each display area. And a distributed processing control unit that holds the medical image group in a readable manner at each stage of the designated workflow, and further includes:
Upon receiving an instruction to output the operation screen related to the reservation, the medical image group corresponding to the display area in each stage of the workflow related to the reservation is generated via the control unit. A screen generation unit that receives the image processing server and generates the operation screen;
A medical image processing system comprising: The distributed processing control unit associates the display area at each stage in the control data associated with the designated workflow with information indicating the image processing server that has performed image processing for each display area. Is generated,
The screen generation unit sends information about the display area of each stage of the workflow related to the reservation to the distributed processing unit based on the control data associated with the workflow related to the reservation, and the distributed processing control unit And instructing to output, based on the management table, the medical image group corresponding to the display area at each stage of the workflow related to the reservation from the image processing server that generated the medical image group. The medical image processing system according to claim 1. A storage unit that stores the medical image data acquired in advance for each examination;
The workflow analysis unit, the medical image processing system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that extracting the designated the medical image data from said storage portion. An image acquisition unit for acquiring the medical image data;
A reception unit for receiving the medical image data and the workflow together with the reservation;
The workflow analysis unit associates the designated medical image data with the display area associated with the image processing in each stage based on the control data of the designated workflow, for each display area. 3. The medical image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the image processing associated with the display area is caused to be performed by a different image processing server .

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