JP6117846B2 - Mammography image display method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a mammography (mammography) image display method.

  Mammography is an essential screening tool for diagnosing early breast cancer. A mammogram (mammogram) according to the prior art is a negative film image obtained by a mammography apparatus using ionizing radiation that passes through the breast. Actually, in order to obtain mammography images of various cross sections in one examination, X-ray imaging is performed on the same breast from different directions. Thereafter, a doctor (reading doctor) hangs a plurality of mammograms manually on a plurality of shaucastens (projectors) in the examination room, and examines and compares them one by one to find abnormal findings. Sometimes, previously examined mammograms and other mammograms are examined for reference. In addition, in order to facilitate comparison, the order and direction of the suspended mammograms are adjusted to meet the conditions. However, when it is necessary to view more mammograms side by side, this method is not sufficient because there are limitations on the number of shaukasten and the installation location. Such a method of manually suspending or a method that requires a shaw casten is not easy to use, wastes time, is expensive, and it is difficult to improve diagnostic efficiency.

  For this reason, a special method is provided for suspending a mammogram suitable for the normal working habits, medical environment, and business processing procedure of an interpreting doctor who is a user who interprets the mammogram. However, even if such a special suspension method is provided, the effect is limited because of the manual suspension method.

  Therefore, there is a need to provide a mammographic image display method that improves the above-mentioned display method without changing the method that has been performed by the conventional method of hanging a mammogram, and this makes the diagnosis complete and satisfactory It is expected to be.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a more convenient and accurate mammography image display method executed by a computer system.

Mammographic image display method according to an aspect of the present invention made in order to achieve the above object, a host computer, said host computer connected to the user interface, before Symbol image display apparatus connected to the host computer, and a server A method for displaying a mammography (mammography) image executed by a computer system comprising: (A) inputting identification information of a mammography image via the user interface; and (B) the host computer. And receiving the identification information, downloading the mammography image data of the patient corresponding to the received identification information from the server, and activating the browsing function of the mammography image data executed on the host computer. Downlaw A step of reading the header information of the mammographic image data, (C) using said host computer reads a plurality of display rule previously set from the server, the header information of the mammography image data the plurality of display rule (D) automatically selecting one of the plurality of display rules that best matches the header information of the mammography image data using the host computer; Automatically classifying the mammographic image data according to the selected one display rule by a host computer and adaptively changing the setting of the selected display rule via the user interface; F) via the image display device Possess displaying a class has been mammographic image data, wherein the display rule, when inspecting the mammographic image in accordance with the work habits of the radiologist is a user, a rule for displaying an image by the image display device The display device includes at least a display layout setting for the mammography image and a setting for displaying the mammography image based on the display layout setting in a predetermined order .

The host computer may classify image attributes including birth date, sex, examination date, examination name, examination amount, examination site, image type, image name, and number of images based on the header information of the mammography image data.
The inspection date may include current and past inspection dates.
The examination site may include left and right breast front portions and left and right breast side portions.
The image types may include a vertical direction (CC) view type and an oblique direction (MLO) view type.
The display rules are obtained via the user interface to select a plurality of display stages including image alignment settings, image position settings, image orientation settings, image rotation settings, image alignment settings, and image tool settings. Can be used.
The image arrangement setting may arrange mammographic images in a matrix arrangement via the user interface.
The image position setting may change the relative position of the mammography image via the user interface.
The image tool settings may include a mask and a magnifying glass.
The computer system may further include a server, and the host computer may download a mammography image corresponding to the identification information from the server.

According to the present invention, the identification information of the mammography image is input through the user interface, and the classification operation is performed using the computer system without manually classifying the image or hanging the image on the shaukasten. By performing the above, it is possible to efficiently display a specific part and a specific type of the mammography image.
In addition, labor and cost associated with image management and storage can be reduced.

1 is a configuration diagram of a system in which a mammography image display method according to an embodiment of the present invention is executed. FIG. It is the schematic which shows an example of the file structure of mammography image data. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the mammography image display method by one Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the structural example of the display rule of a mammography image. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the input screen for user interfaces applied to the mammography image display method. It is the schematic which shows the left-right reversal display of a mammography image. It is the schematic which shows the replacement display of this time and the past inspection image. It is the schematic which shows the mammography image corresponding to the display of a chest wall-chest wall. It is a figure which shows the 2nd example of a display of the input screen for user interfaces applied to a mammography image display method. It is the schematic which shows the interchange display of an up-down direction (CC) view type and an oblique direction (MLO) view type. It is a figure which shows the 3rd example of a display of the input screen for user interfaces applied to a mammography image display method. It is a figure which shows the 4th example of a display of the input screen for user interfaces applied to a mammography image display method.

  Hereinafter, specific examples of embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a system in which a mammography image display method according to an embodiment of the present invention is executed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the computer system 10 includes a host computer 1, a user interface 2 connected to the host computer 1, and an image display device 3 connected to the host computer 1. In addition, the computer system 10 is communicatively connected to the server 4 via the communication network 5 so that data can be transmitted and received between them.

  Although not shown, the host computer 1 has a control program such as an operating system based on computer hardware such as a personal computer, server computer, and workstation including hardware such as a CPU, memory, storage device, and LAN port. An application program such as a client program or a server program is installed. In particular, a dedicated application program for displaying mammography images is installed.

  The user interface 2 includes an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse. The user refers to a selection screen displayed on the image display device 3 corresponding to various processes executed by the application program, and the user can select an input device. A command instructed by pressing various operation buttons or inputting a number is received and transmitted to the host computer 1.

  The image display device 3 is configured by a high-definition monitor including, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), and displays images processed by various operation buttons and application programs on a display screen. In addition, the image display device 3 (monitor) may be configured to include a touch panel on the display screen and receive an input with a finger or a touch pen.

The server 4 includes an image database 6 and stores mammographic image data of all patients. Each patient's mammographic image is digitally converted, added with unique identification information, and stored as mammographic image data. For example, mammography image data is stored in the image database 6 in a file format conforming to the DICOM (Digital Image and Communications in Medicine) standard.
The server 4 functions as a so-called PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) server and is connected to a modality (not shown) to constitute a PACS.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a file configuration of mammography image data. As shown in FIG. 2, the mammography image data file 60 is provided with an auxiliary information area (header) 61 for image data and an image data storage area 62 for mammography images. For example, a DICOM tag is written in the incidental information area (header) 61. The DICOM tag is provided with fields for storing basic patient information such as patient ID and patient name, examination ID, examination date and time, and examination information items such as mammography imaging conditions. Accordingly, mammography image data can be searched using various items in the DICOM tag as search keys.

  The communication network 5 can employ various line forms such as a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), and the Internet.

  Next, a mammography image display method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the mammography image display method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  First, identification information of a mammography image to be inspected is input by the interpretation doctor who is a user through the user interface 2 (step A). In response to the input of the identification information, the host computer 1 downloads the mammography image data of the patient from the server 4 for use in the examination.

  The host computer 1 receives the identification information, activates the mammography image data browsing function, and reads the header information of the corresponding mammography image data (step B).

  Next, the host computer 1 reads a plurality of previously set display rules, and collates the read display rules with the header information of the mammography image data (step C). Then, the host computer 1 automatically selects one display rule that best fits the header information of the mammography image data to be inspected among the plurality of display rules (step D).

  Thereafter, the host computer 1 automatically classifies the mammography image data according to the selected one display rule (step E). Then, the classified mammography image data is displayed via the image display device (high-definition monitor) 3 (step F).

  In step E, the host computer 1 can adaptively change the display rule setting necessary for the user to display the mammography image via the user interface.

  Here, the display rule is a rule for displaying an image on an image display device (high-definition monitor) when each user (reading doctor) inspects a mammography image according to a normal work habit. As shown, the display layout (display stage) setting of the mammography image and at least the setting for displaying the set display stage in a predetermined order are configured.

  In setting the display rule, by using the header information (including the DICOM tag) of the mammography image data, the host host computer automatically searches based on the attribute information of each image data and selects predetermined image data. Further, the display rule defines a procedure for displaying the selected image data in a desired display layout and in a desired order, and is stored in the server 4 as a data file referred to by the application program.

  Individual display rules are acquired by using the user interface 2 and selecting a plurality of display stages as required. That is, the display rule is composed of different sequences of display stages.

  The display stage includes an image arrangement setting, an image position setting, an image direction setting, an image rotation setting, an image alignment setting, and an image tool setting.

  The image arrangement setting arranges mammography images in a matrix arrangement via the user interface 2. For example, it is arranged in 4X2, 2X2, 2X1, and other matrices.

  In the image position setting, the relative position of the mammography image is exchanged via the user interface 2.

  In the image direction setting, the direction of the mammography image is changed via the user interface 2.

  The image rotation setting rotates the image via the user interface 2 (for example, 180 degrees rotation).

  The image alignment setting automatically classifies mammography images based on image attributes and aligns them to the left or right.

  The image tool setting comprises a mask and a magnifier tool.

  Based on the header information (DICOM tag) of the mammography image, the host computer 1 classifies image attributes including the date of birth, sex, inspection date, inspection name, inspection amount, inspection site, image type, image name, and number of images. To do.

  The inspection date attribute includes current and past inspection dates. The examination site attribute includes left and right breast front portions and left and right breast side portions. The image type attribute includes a vertical-direction (CC) view type and an oblique-direction (MLO) view type.

  In step E of FIG. 3, one setting in the display rule is adaptively changed via the user interface 2. That is, whenever the host computer 1 classifies the mammography image, the user changes the display stage of one selected display rule to a new display rule at any time via the user interface 2, and as a result, The host computer 1 then applies the changed new display rule.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of an input screen for user interface applied to the mammography image display method. All mammography image setting screens 30 that can be set on the display stage are displayed on the screen of the image display device (high-definition monitor).

  Mammography generally takes four images including the left and right breast front and the left and right breast sides in a single examination.

  In the image arrangement setting, the six matrices on the left side of FIG. 5 display the current inspection image in a box indicated by a dotted line, and display past inspection images outside the box indicated by a dotted line.

  After the image arrangement is selected, other image display settings are made. For example, an image position setting and an image direction setting are set. Specifically, as shown on the right side of the input screen shown in FIG. 5, left / right reverse display, past image display, position exchange display between current and past images, or chest wall-chest wall (inverted image so as to be) This option can be selected. Here, the settings in the box surrounded by the dotted line correspond only to the left column of mammography images, and the option of the horizontally reversed display outside the box inverts the images in the six matrices shown on the left side of FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the left and right reversed display of the mammography image, showing that the left and right upper left mammography image of FIG. 5 has been reversed. When is selected, it is inverted.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a display for exchanging current and past inspection images. Here, the current inspection image displayed in the box indicated by the dotted line is replaced from the lower side to the upper side, and the past inspection image displayed outside the box is replaced from the upper side to the lower side.

  FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a mammography image corresponding to the display of the chest wall-chest wall, and the current and past examination images are displayed in different directions.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a second display example of a user interface input screen applied to the mammography image display method, and is a user interface for setting the priority order for displaying mammography images.

  Here, the priority order indicates the order in which the mammography images are displayed. When the priority is set to “1”, the display order is the first, and the other orders are similarly set. This setting does not apply if priority is set off.

  FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the display switching between the vertical (CC) view type and the oblique direction (MLO) view type, and the display position switching of the MLO and CC images shown on the right side of FIG. 9 is selected. Indicates that the mammography images are switched.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a third display example of a user interface input screen applied to the mammography image display method, and shows display stage settings when different images are compared.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a fourth display example of a user interface input screen applied to the mammography image display method, and shows display stage settings when the mask tool is used.

  When the setting for the display stage is assigned (set), the host computer 1 records the setting at this time and stores it in the server 4 in order to create a display rule.

  For the next mammography image inspection, the host computer 1 reads a plurality of previously set display rules from the server 4 and collates the read display rules with the header information of the mammography image data. In this way, the host computer 1 automatically selects one display rule that best fits the header information of the mammography image data from among a plurality of display rules. As a result, the host computer 1 causes the image display device to One display rule is applied to the displayed mammography image data. Thereby, the mammography image data is displayed with preferable performance, and the mammography inspection is more convenient and accurate.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described in detail, referring drawings, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the technical scope of this invention, it changes variously. It is possible to implement.

1 Host computer 2 User interface 3 Image display device (high-definition monitor)
4 Server 5 Communication network 6 Image database 10 Computer system 30 Mammography image setting screen 60 Mammography image data file 61 Attached information area (header)
62 Image data storage area

Claims (9)

Host computer, the user interface connected to the host computer, a prior Symbol host computer connected to an image display device, and a method of displaying mammography (breast X-ray) image executed by a computer system comprising a server And
(A) inputting identification information of a mammography image via the user interface;
(B) Using the host computer, receiving the identification information, downloading mammography image data of a patient corresponding to the received identification information from the server , and browsing the mammography image data executed on the host computer Activating the function and reading header information of the downloaded mammography image data;
(C) using the host computer, reading a plurality of previously set display rules from the server , and collating the plurality of display rules with header information of the mammography image data;
(D) automatically selecting one of the plurality of display rules that best matches the header information of the mammography image data using the host computer;
(E) The host computer automatically classifies the mammography image data according to the selected one display rule, and adaptively changes the setting of the selected display rule via the user interface. Steps,
Through (F) the image display device, have a, and displaying the classified mammographic image data,
The display rule is a rule for displaying an image on the image display device when inspecting a mammography image in accordance with a work habit of each interpreting doctor who is a user, at least a display layout setting of the mammography image, and the display layout A mammography image display method comprising: a setting for displaying the mammography images based on settings in a predetermined order .   The host computer classifies image attributes including birth date, gender, examination date, examination name, examination amount, examination site, image type, image name, and number of images based on header information of mammography image data. The mammography image display method according to claim 1, wherein:   The method of displaying a mammography image according to claim 2, wherein the examination date includes a current examination date and a past examination date.   The mammography image display method according to claim 2, wherein the examination site includes left and right breast front portions and left and right breast side portions.   The mammography image display method according to claim 2, wherein the image types include a vertical direction (CC) view type and an oblique direction (MLO) view type. The display rule is acquired through the user interface, and based on the display layout setting included in the display rule, an image arrangement setting, an image position setting, an image orientation setting, an image rotation setting, an image alignment setting, and an image The mammography image display method according to claim 1, wherein the mammography image display method is used to select a plurality of display stages including tool settings.   The mammography image display method according to claim 6, wherein in the image arrangement setting, the mammography images are arranged in a matrix arrangement via the user interface.   The mammography image display method according to claim 6, wherein in the image position setting, a relative position of the mammography image is exchanged via the user interface. The mammography image display method according to claim 6, wherein the image tool setting includes a mask and a magnifying glass tool.

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