JPH0795556A - Microscope remote observation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a microscope remote observation system which can directly perform the communication of images and voices between a remote operator and a doctor in charge under a surgical operation while remotely operating a microscope at a distant place and observing any desired image. CONSTITUTION:The microscope remote observation system is composed of an observation terminal part, which is operated by the medically dedicated doctor of the remote operator, composed of an observation side terminal 1, monitor 2 for personal computer, keyboard 3 and TV monitor 4 for displaying the received image, microscope terminal part composed of a microscope side terminal 13 installed at a medical room at a distant place connected by a transmission line and provided with the same function, monitor 14 for personal computer, keyboard 15, TV monitor 16 and microscope 17 enabling stage move, objective lens switching and focus and iris remote control, TV monitor 16 arranged at an operating room utilized by the doctor in charge, and telephone set 23.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to image transmission of a microscope, and more particularly to a microscope remote observation system used for remote pathological diagnosis in the medical field such as emergency pathological diagnosis during surgery (intraoperative pathological diagnosis).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a remote pathological diagnosis (telepathology) is a pathological diagnosis in which a microscope installed at a remote place is remotely operated to observe a desired image for diagnosis. A pioneer in this technical field, R. S. Weinber
According to g.'s paper, a telepathology system consists of three elements (Ref. 1: Arch Pathol
Lab Med-Voll 111, July 1987 P646-652).

(1) A remote-controllable microscope equipped with a high-resolution TV camera; and (2) a workstation for a pathologist to handle, which has a remote-control operation function of the microscope and a high-resolution TV monitor. (3) An information transmission path provided between the microscope and the workstation. The main field of application of this system is emergency diagnosis during surgery, i.e. rapid intraoperative diagnosis, which is aimed in particular to enable rapid intraoperative diagnosis in surgery for cancer.

In this cancer operation, it is difficult to determine with naked eyes whether or not the affected area has been completely resected, and a pathologist who has experience may be required to make a diagnosis. According to the diagnosis of the pathologist, if cancerous tissue still remains, the operation is continued and the excision area is enlarged.

However, since there is a very shortage of pathologists who can make such a diagnosis, it is necessary to send a microscopic image of a specimen (preparation) to a pathologist to have a diagnosis so that appropriate surgery can be performed. This is the basic idea of Rosie.

Against this background, several telepathology systems have been devised to date based on the proposal of Weinstein (reference document 2: Zentralbl Pathol 199).
2: 138: P413-417). Usually, these are composed of three components: a transmission side terminal for capturing and transmitting an image, a reception side terminal for receiving and observing the image, and a bidirectional communication line. Further, both terminals are often provided with an image saving / reproducing function.

[0007]

However, each of the above-mentioned conventional systems is configured with a connection between a pathologist in a university hospital and a pathology room in a remote hospital by communication. However, since the pathological room of a hospital and the operating room are generally separated from each other, and the pathological room is not a clean area and cannot be separated from the patient during surgery, the surgeon who performs the surgery (hereinafter referred to as the doctor in charge) ) It was difficult for me to move to the pathology room and discuss directly with the pathologist at the other university.

Therefore, some kind of intervening person is required to transmit the diagnosis result between the pathologist and the doctor in charge, and it takes time to exchange the diagnosis result even during the operation, and further, the diagnosis content is required. There was a risk of being reported incorrectly.

In view of the above, the present invention provides a remote-controllable microscope that allows a remote operator to remotely operate a microscope and observe a desired image while the remote operator directly communicates with a doctor in charge by a voice and image. The purpose is to provide an observation system.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention was used to observe a static image obtained from a microscope by remote control, and to obtain the obtained image at both the transmission side terminal and the reception side terminal. Images can be stored and played back, and when any image is selected and displayed from the stored image on the receiving side terminal, that information is also transmitted to the sending side terminal, and the same image is replayed and displayed on the sending side terminal. In an observation system (telepathology system), a line switch, which is provided in the transmission side terminal and can be switched from the reception side terminal by remote control, and the reception side terminal by switching the line switch from the reception side terminal A third terminal for displaying the image information selected in step 1, and a voice call means capable of mutual voice communication between the transmitter side terminal, the receiver side terminal and the third terminal. It is the providing microscopic telemonitoring system.

[0011]

[Operation] With the microscope remote observation system configured as described above, the microscope installed in the pathological room is operated from the reception side terminal installed in the distant pathologist's residence, and the obtained image is installed in the operating room. The image and the sound are displayed on the third terminal, and the image and the sound are directly transmitted from the pathologist to the doctor in charge of the operation by the telephone together with the image.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a microscope remote observation system as an embodiment according to the present invention, which will be described. This system is roughly divided into a remote operator, for example, an observation terminal unit (reception side) operated by a pathologist at a university, and a transmission line connected to this observation terminal unit and installed in a pathological room of a hospital at a remote place. The microscope terminal unit (transmission side) and the image display terminal unit arranged in the operating room of the hospital.

In the observation side terminal unit, the observation side terminal 1
Is a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer), which has a frame memory function, an image compression / expansion function, a menu operation function for system control, and a communication function compatible with the INS net 64. It also has an external storage function for saving the received image. To the observation side terminal 1, a personal computer monitor 2 for displaying a menu for system control, a keyboard 3 for menu operation and character input, and a TV monitor 4 for displaying a received image are connected. The TV monitor 4 may be replaced with the personal computer monitor 2, and the received image may be displayed on the personal computer monitor 2.

A DSU (digital service unit) 5 of an INS net 64 is connected to the observation side terminal 1, a terminal adapter 6 is provided for this, and a telephone 7 communicates with a doctor in charge in the operating room by voice. Can be taken. And the DSU5
To the DSU 9 of the INS net 64 via the transmission line 8. Further, it is connected to the personal computer of the microscope side terminal 13 having the same function as the observation side terminal 1 through the DSU 9. However, a microscope control function and a video switch control function, which will be described later, are added to the microscope side terminal 13.

The microscope-side terminal 13 is provided with a personal computer monitor 14, a keyboard 15, and a TV monitor 16. The functions of these members have the same functions as the members provided in the observation side terminal portion.

Further, the microscope side terminal 13 is connected to a microscope 17 which can control the movement of the stage and the switching of the objective lens by a personal computer and can automatically control the focus and the aperture through an interface (not shown). This interface is built in the microscope 17 or in the microscope side terminal 1, for example, RS-232C,
It is composed of GP-IB, parallel, serial, SCSI and the like.

A high-definition television camera (NTSC, HDTV, etc.) 18 is provided above the microscope 17, and the video signal of the obtained image is passed through a CCU (camera control unit) 19 Microscope side terminal 1
It is digitized and taken into the frame memory function in 3. Then, necessary image compression is performed by the image compression / expansion function, the image is stored in the external storage device, and is transmitted to the observation side terminal 1 of the observation terminal unit via the transmission line 8 by the communication function.

A telephone 11 is connected to the DSU 9 via a terminal adapter 10 and a telephone exchange 12. And, in the operating room, the TV of the microscope side terminal 13
A video cable 25 is extended from the video output terminal of the monitor 16, and a video signal operated by a pathologist is sent to the TV monitor 24 via the video switch 22 on the way. In addition, a telephone exchange 1 capable of three-way calling to the microscope side terminal 13 so that the doctor in charge of the operating room, the operator in the pathology room, and the pathologist at the university can talk at the same time.
A telephone line is laid via 2 and is connected to a telephone 23 provided in the operating room.

The observation side terminal 1 and the microscope side terminal 13 are N
The transmission line 8 of the IS net 64 is used for connection, but an analog public line or NIS net 1500 may be used instead. When using an analog public line, DSU
5 and 9 are no longer needed and a modem will be used instead.

Referring to the flow charts of FIGS. 2 and 3,
The operation of the microscope remote observation system configured as described above will be described. First, the operation is started in the operating room (step S1), and the sample of the affected area is excised (step S1).
2), it is manually transported to the pathology room and is received at the pathology room (step S3). Then, the laboratory technician creates a specimen (preparation) of the sample (step S4), calls the laboratory of the pathologist at the university, and performs remote observation (steps S5, S6). Up to this point, it is similar to the conventional system. In the conventional system, the pathologist informs the examination technique (or the operator operating the microscope side terminal in the pathology room) of the diagnosis result by telephone, and the surgeon in the operating room directly informs the diagnosis result. It In some cases, the laboratory of the university sends detailed diagnostic findings to the hospital by FAX.

In the present embodiment, when the remote observation of the pathologist is completed, the pathological room calls the telephone of the operating room (step S7), and the doctor in charge of the operating room or the operator of the pathological room responds. (Step S8). In this embodiment, since the telephone exchange capable of three-way calling is used, the operating room,
It enables conversations between people in the pathology room and university laboratories.

Next, the operator who operates the microscope side terminal 13 in the pathological room turns on the video switch (step S9),
An image remotely observed by the pathologist is displayed on the TV monitor 24 in the operating room (step S10). In the present embodiment, it is premised that the same still images are displayed on the TV monitors 4, 16 and 24 at the same time, which results in 3
The same image will be displayed on two terminals at the same time.

When the image is switched by the pathologist at the observation side terminal 1 (step S11), the information is transmitted to the microscope side terminal 13 through the transmission path 8, and the image displayed on the TV monitor 16 is also changed ( Step S1
2) At the same time, the image on the TV monitor 25 in the operating room is also switched (step S13).

As described above, the doctor in charge of the operating room, the operator (inspection engineer, etc.) in the pathological room, and the pathologist at the university can proceed with the discussion while viewing the exact same image.

In this embodiment, a grid can be displayed on each image (steps S14-S).
16). This is to superimpose a lattice on a still image as shown in FIG. 4, whereby the attention position can be accurately notified to the other party, and more detailed discussion can be facilitated. That is, when the pathologist pays attention to a specific position of the image image during the discussion, the position can be indicated by characters such as “3 of A” and “2 of C” (steps S17 to S19).

As shown in FIG. 5, in order to transmit the diagnosis result more accurately, when character information is input by the keyboard on the observing side terminal 1, it is superposed and displayed on the image of the TV monitor 4. It This character information is also transmitted to the microscope side terminal 13 through the transmission path 8 and is also displayed on the TV monitor 16 of the microscope side terminal 13 and the TV monitor 24 of the operating room in the same manner. As a result, subtle nuances of the diagnosis made by the pathologist can be accurately transmitted to the doctor in charge of the operating room.

If no diagnostic result is obtained by the above operation, the process returns to step S11 to switch to a new image,
The above-described operation is repeated (step S20). When the diagnosis result is output, the ending process is performed (steps S22 and S23).

As described above, the microscope remote observation system according to the present embodiment allows the diagnosis result in the remote pathological diagnosis to be directly transmitted from the pathologist to the doctor in charge of the operating room. In addition, it became possible for the pathologist and the doctor in charge between remote values to proceed with the discussion while observing the same microscopic image. Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that various modifications and applications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0029]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a remote operator can remotely operate a microscope at a remote place and observe a desired image, while the remote operator directly interacts with a doctor in charge of surgery. It is possible to provide a microscope remote observation system capable of communicating by voice and image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a microscope remote observation system as an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a first half of a flowchart for explaining the operation of the microscope remote observation system shown in FIG.

3 is a second half of a flowchart for explaining the operation of the microscope remote observation system shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an example in which a lattice is superimposed and displayed on an image displayed on a TV monitor.

FIG. 5 is an example in which characters are superimposed and displayed on an image displayed on a TV monitor.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Observation side terminal, 2, 14 ... PC monitor, 3, 1
5 ... Keyboard, 4, 16, 24 ... TV monitor, 5, 9
... DSU (Digital Service Unit), 6 ... Terminal adapter, 7, 11, 23 ... Telephone, 8 ... Transmission line, 10 ... Terminal adapter, 12 ... Telephone exchange, 1
3 ... Microscope side terminal, 17 ... Microscope, 18 ... Television camera, 19 ... CCU (camera control unit), 22 ... Video switch, 25 ... Video cable.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A still image can be obtained from a microscope by remote control, and an image used for observation can be stored / reproduced in both a transmission side terminal and a reception side terminal of the obtained image, and an arbitrary image can be reproduced from the stored image. In a microscope remote observation system (telepathology system) in which when an image is selected and displayed on the receiving side terminal, the information is also transmitted to the transmitting side terminal and the same image is reproduced and displayed on the transmitting side terminal, the transmitting side terminal is provided. A line switch that can be remotely switched from the receiving terminal; and a third terminal that displays the image information selected by the receiving terminal by switching the line switch from the receiving terminal; A microscope remote observation system, comprising: a voice call means capable of mutual voice communication between a transmitter side terminal, a receiver side terminal and a third terminal.