JPH0838433A - Medical image diagnostic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily visibly display a group of volume series images in sequence like an animation so that an interest region can be easily read. CONSTITUTION:When an interest region is set on one image displayed on the screen of a display device 11 with a mouse 12, an image processor 9 conducts magnified image processing in the interest region for a group of volume series images read out from a recording device 8 in sequence and synthesizes the magnified images at the prescribed position on the prescribed background image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

This invention relates to an MRI apparatus and an X-ray C
The present invention relates to a medical image diagnostic apparatus such as a T apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an MRI apparatus, an X-ray CT apparatus or the like, a group of images of a volume series having surface relationships with each other is usually acquired. That is, for example, in cine imaging, a large number of time-series images of one slice plane of the subject are obtained, and in multi-slice imaging, images of a large number of adjacent slice planes of the subject are obtained. Generally, the volume series image of the time series set and the volume series image of the location series set are sequentially displayed as they are on a single display screen like a moving image. In addition, when the region of interest is small, only that region may be enlarged and sequentially displayed like a moving image.

[0003]

However, simply displaying the volume series images as they are in a moving image-like manner as described above is difficult to see when the region of interest is small. Moreover, in the time-series set of volume-series images, there are actually slight pixel movements in each tissue other than the ROI, and such movements outside the ROI sometimes cause flicker in the eye during the image interpretation stage. It may not be felt, which may be an obstacle when interpreting an area of interest.

Further, when the region of interest is small, whether or not the small region of interest should be simply displayed in an enlarged manner poses a problem. That is, when the position of a certain area of the heart is always determined as in the case of performing a dynamic analysis of the area, for example, it may be enlarged and displayed like a moving image. It is inconvenient when lesions are scattered in various organs.
When lesions are scattered in such an organ, a contrast agent may be administered to obtain a time-series image of the lesions for dynamic analysis, but in that case, simply enlarging It may not be possible to display all the scattered lesions on the screen, and it is difficult to understand where the enlarged lesions are located on the entire human body structure.

In view of the above, the present invention has improved medical image diagnostics so that when a group of volume series images are sequentially displayed like a moving image, the region of interest can be easily read and the difficulty of seeing can be eliminated. The purpose is to provide a device.

[0006]

To achieve the above object, in a medical image diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, a means for collecting a group of volume series images and an image storage means for storing the images. An image display unit, a unit for arbitrarily setting one or more regions of interest on one image read from the image storage unit and displayed on the image display unit, and enlargement of the set regions of interest. Mapping processing is sequentially performed on each image of the group of volume series read out from the image storing means so that the enlarged mapping of the region of interest obtained sequentially appears at a predetermined position on a predetermined background image. It is characterized in that an image processing means for sequentially synthesizing the enlarged map and the background image is provided.

Further, the above-mentioned image processing means, when synthesizing the enlarged map and the background image one after another, as a background image, a representative selected from a group of images of a volume series according to an arbitrary input. It may be configured such that it can be switched to either one of the typical images and the respective images corresponding to the enlarged mapping of the group of images of the volume series.

[0008]

The magnified map of the set region of interest is displayed at a predetermined position on the background image. In this state, the enlarged map is continuously displayed in the direction of the volume series like a moving image.
Therefore, even if the region of interest is small, it is enlarged and displayed, which facilitates observation. Even when a plurality of regions of interest are scattered, an enlarged map is obtained for each of them and these are displayed on the background image, so that all of the plurality of regions of interest are displayed. Further, since the display position of the enlarged map can be determined according to the position of the region of interest, it becomes possible to easily grasp where the enlarged region of interest image is located.

Further, the background image is fixed to one representative whole image, or is set to each whole image corresponding to the enlarged map, and the whole background image is sequentially changed like a moving image together with the enlarged map. Since it is possible to switch whether to display in, it is easy to observe depending on the use or the situation.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is an application of the present invention to an MRI apparatus. As shown in FIG. 1, the MRI apparatus includes a static magnetic field generation device 1, a gradient magnetic field generation device 2, and an excitation device 3. A subject (not shown) is placed in the static magnetic field and An NMR signal is generated by exciting a subject with a high frequency signal while superimposing a pulsed gradient magnetic field. Then, the NMR signal is received by the receiving device 4, taken into the computer 5, and stored in the memory 6 as raw data.

The computer 5 performs an imaging sequence such as a gradient echo method or a spin echo method by controlling the gradient magnetic field generating device 2 and the exciting device 3, and stores the raw data obtained in a large number of slice planes therein. 6 to be stored. The tomographic image reconstruction device 7 reconstructs a tomographic image on each slice plane by performing two-dimensional Fourier transform on the raw data on the memory 6. This allows, for example, FIG.
An original image 21 of a group of volume series consisting of tomographic images on multiple slice planes as shown in FIG. The data of the original image 21 is stored in an external recording device 8 such as a hard disk.
Stored in.

When an instruction is given to the computer 5 by operating the mouse 12 or the keyboard 13, one of the original images 21 of the group of volume series is selected as a representative background image, and its image data is output from the recording device 8. It is read and sent to the display circuit 10. As a result, the original image 21 is displayed on the screen of the display device 11, as shown in FIG. So mouse 1
By operating 2 etc., desired scattered regions of interest 22, 23 etc. are set.

Then, the image processing device 9 enlarges and maps only the regions such as the regions of interest 22 and 23. This enlargement mapping process is a tile in which one original pixel is simply increased to a large number of pixels such as 2 × 2 or 4 × 4,
Alternatively, it is performed according to an algorithm such as linear interpolation or spline interpolation for performing interpolation between original pixels. In this case, the enlargement ratio may be separately designated by the keyboard 13 or the like in advance, or may be graphically designated on the ROI setting screen by using the mouse 12 or the like.

Thus, the enlarged map 3 of the regions of interest 22 and 23
When 2 and 33 are created, these are as shown in FIG.
The regions of interest 22 and 23 are overlapped on the background image 34 without changing the center positions. Such an image is combined by the image processing device 9, and the combined image becomes the display image 31 displayed on the display device 11. The display image 31 is like looking at a plurality of regions of interest scattered on the entire image displayed as the background image 34 with a magnifying glass such as magnifying glass, and observing each of the small regions of interest. It becomes easy and the position in the whole image can be easily grasped.

After the region-of-interest setting work is completed, the image processing device 9 performs the above-described enlargement mapping process on each of the group of volume series images read from the recording device 8 to obtain each enlargement map. , The image synthesis for synthesizing the enlarged map with the background image is sequentially performed. Then, since the combined images are displayed one after another on the screen of the display device 11, an image in which only the enlarged maps 32 and 33 appearing at the predetermined positions of the background image 34 are changed like a moving image. I can observe. In this case, since the background image 34 is the first whole image selected initially and is always displayed, the portion of the background image 34 is fixed, and the enlarged maps 32 and 33 of the region of interest are fixed. It does not interfere with observation.

With respect to the background image 34, a group of volume series images are made to correspond to the enlarged maps 32 and 33 of the region of interest in accordance with an instruction separately input by operating the mouse 12 or the keyboard 13. It is also possible to display them one after another. When such an instruction is input, the image processing apparatus 9 performs an enlargement mapping process on the images read one after another from the recording device 8 and a process of combining the enlargement map obtained therewith with the read image. The composited image is sent to the display circuit 10 as a display image. When such a display is performed, not only the region of interest but also the change in the volume series direction in other portions can be observed,
This is effective when you want to observe in a region other than the region of interest.

Further, the image processing device 9 can be provided with the following functions. That is, since the image processing device 9 extracts the image data of the regions of interest 22 and 23 from each image read from the recording device 8 and performs the enlargement mapping process, addition (or addition averaging) of the extracted image data is performed. And so on. The operation of obtaining a qualitative or quantitative analysis value in each of the regions of interest 22 and 23 is performed for each image of the volume series. Then, an analysis value that changes in the volume series direction is obtained for each of the regions of interest 22 and 23. Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, if another display frame 41 is provided on the display screen 30 and the horizontal axis thereof is the volume series direction and the vertical axis is the magnitude of the analysis value, the region of interest 22 is displayed. It is possible to display a curve 42 regarding the area of interest and a curve 43 regarding the region of interest 23. If the volume series of images are a time series set, these curves 42, 43 will represent the time density curves for each of the regions of interest 22, 23.

And here, three indicators 4
4, 45, and 46 are displayed in the display frame 41, and the indicator 44 is dragged with the mouse 12 in the horizontal direction (mouse 1
The operation of moving the mouse 12 while pressing the button 2) is possible. These indicators 44, 45,
Reference numeral 46 designates each of a group of volume series images, and the indicator 44 is a frame advance marker. That is, by dragging the indicator 44 to the left or right, the indicators 45, 4 are interlocked with it.
6 also moves to the left and right to indicate which frame (image) is currently designated. Then, the specified image is displayed as the display image 31 (the display image 31 displaying the enlarged maps 32 and 33 of the regions of interest 22 and 23 of the image of the specified frame is displayed). The display image 31 is not automatically and continuously displayed in the direction of the volume series in the manner of a moving image, but the display image 31 designated by the indicators 44, 45, and 46 appears so that it is a frame advance marker. By dragging the indicator 44 in the left-right direction, the frame is advanced in the forward or reverse direction at an arbitrary speed, and the analysis result curve 42 of the qualitative analysis or the quantitative analysis is displayed.
The display image 31 can be observed while collating with 43.

It should be noted that this frame advance instruction can be made by inputting from the other keyboard 13 in addition to the drag operation of the indicator 44 as described above.

Although the mouse 12 and the keyboard 13 are used as input devices in this embodiment, other input devices such as a joystick and a trackball can be used.

Further, although the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to the MRI apparatus has been described above, it is also applicable to an X-ray CT apparatus, an emission CT apparatus and the like.

[0022]

As described above with reference to the embodiments, according to the medical image diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, even when a region of interest is small or scattered when sequentially displaying a group of volume series images. , It becomes possible to read them easily.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an MRI apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a large number of original images of a volume series obtained in the same example.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining setting of a region of interest and its enlarged mapping in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the display screen in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Static Magnetic Field Generator 2 Gradient Magnetic Field Generator 3 Excitation Device 4 Receiver 5 Computer 6 Memory 7 Tomographic Image Reconstructor 8 Recording Device 9 Image Processing Device 10 Display Circuit 11 Display Device 12 Mouse 13 Keyboard 21 Original Image 22, 23 Interest Region 30 Display screen 31 Display image 32, 33 Enlarged map of region of interest 34 Background image 41 Display frame 42, 43 Analysis curve 44, 45, 46 Volume series position indicator

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location A61B 6/03 360 Q 7638-2J G06T 1/00 H04N 5/272 7/18 V

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A means for collecting a group of volume series images, an image storage means for storing the images, an image display means, and an image read out from the image storage means and displayed on the image display means. Means for arbitrarily setting one or more regions of interest on one image and enlargement mapping processing for the set regions of interest are performed for each image of the group of volume series read from the image storage unit. And an image processing means for sequentially synthesizing the magnified map and the background image so that the magnified map of the region of interest sequentially obtained appears at a predetermined position on a predetermined background image. Image diagnostic equipment.