JPH10260987A - Medical image management method and medical image management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To use medical image data of a slow auxiliary storage device as a reference image for comparison medical examination by transferring medial image data that has a possibility of being used in an image data storage device to an image buffer before a read instruction is issued at the time of use. SOLUTION: When appointment information from a hospital information management host 200 and medical examination information from an image photographing device 40 are generated, an image information management host 300 retrieves the HDD of each server and an image directory of an image library. When past medial image data of a specified reagent exists in an image library 530 of an image storing server 500, the host 300 gives the sever 500 an instruction to read the past medial image data of the specified reagent. The host 300 specifies an image display WS 700 at a place where the patient receives medical examination and transfers medical image data to be read to an image buffer for the image display WS 700.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a medical image management method and a medical image management system, and more particularly, to a medical image management method and a medical image management system capable of efficiently using medical images.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A tomographic image obtained by a CT (Computed Tomography) apparatus and a magnetic resonance (M) utilizing a nuclear magnetic resonance phenomenon are used.
Various medical images such as tomographic images obtained by an RI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) device or tomographic images obtained by an ultrasonic imaging device are generally used.

[0003] This type of medical image data has a very large size. For example, a CT tomographic image is about 0.5 MB (megabyte) per image. For applications such as follow-up observation, several hundred tomographic images are required per person.

[0004] Therefore, there are several hundred MB of medical image data per person. As a result, in a hospital or the like where a large number of medical image data need to be stored, the capacity of the medical image data becomes very large.

[0005] Therefore, for medical image data that is used less frequently (generally, medical image data that has elapsed since the generation of medical image data), a high-speed, small-capacity magnetic disk device, etc. Therefore, the data is transferred to and stored in a low-speed large-capacity auxiliary storage device such as a magnetic tape device having a low unit price per capacity.

[0006]

However, when old medical image data is needed, there is a problem that it takes a lot of time to read out the medical image data stored in the low-speed large-capacity auxiliary storage device. doing.

Incidentally, for the purpose of comparative diagnosis, follow-up observation, and the like, observation may be made while comparing a current photographed image (post-surgery or the like) of the same patient with a past photographed image (pre-surgery or the like). For such follow-up observation, etc., a reference image for comparative diagnosis (a past image of the same patient) is required, and a read instruction is issued. Then, a low-speed, large-capacity auxiliary storage device such as a magnetic tape device is actually used. Until the medical image data is read, several tens of minutes are required for searching, reading, and transferring.

For example, in the case of the medical image data management system shown in FIG. 5, when an image request is received from an image display WS (workstation) 710 for displaying a reference image for comparative diagnosis, the HDD 620 of the departmental image server 600 is requested. The image library 630 (optical disk, magneto-optical disk, etc.) of the departmental image server 600 and the image library 530 (low-speed, large-capacity magnetic tape device, etc.) of the image storage server 500 are searched in this order.

If the desired medical image data exists in the HDD 620 of the departmental image server, it can be read out in a few seconds, but if it exists in the image library 630, several minutes are required. If it exists in the library 530, several tens of minutes are required.

In practice, the past medical image data is stored in the image library 5 of the image storage server 500 for the reasons described above.
30. Therefore, in the case of follow-up observation, it takes several tens of minutes to read out old medical image data as a reference image for comparative diagnosis on the image display WS 710, which is not practical.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a medical image management method and a medical image management method capable of using medical image data stored in a low-speed auxiliary storage device as a reference image for comparative diagnosis. It is intended to realize a medical image management system.

[0012]

That is, the present invention as a means for solving the problem is as described below.

(1) In the first invention, medical image data stored in an image data storage device is referred to as information that can specify a subject, and the medical image data that can be used is referred to when the medical image data is used. This is a medical image management method characterized by transferring data to an image buffer before a read instruction is issued.

Here, the information capable of specifying the subject corresponds to information generated in connection with the subject, such as reservation information and consultation information. That is, in the first invention, for medical image data stored in a low-speed image data storage device, referring to information that can specify a subject, medical image data that can be used is specified and used. Before the occurrence of a read instruction at the time, the image is transferred to an image buffer that can be read at a higher speed than the image storage device.

In the above manner, when the medical image data of the subject is used as the reference image in the image terminal, the corresponding medical image data has already been transferred, and the medical image data is transferred from the low-speed auxiliary storage device to the medical terminal. Time for reading image data can be saved.

Therefore, the medical image data stored in the low-speed auxiliary storage device can be used as a reference image for comparative diagnosis. (2) A second invention provides an image data storage device that stores medical image data, an image buffer that can read medical image data at a higher speed than the image data storage device,
Control means for transferring medical image data related to the subject to the image buffer before issuing a readout instruction when using medical image data by referring to information capable of specifying the subject,
A medical image management system comprising:

Here, the information capable of specifying the subject corresponds to information generated in connection with the subject, such as reservation information and consultation information. That is, in the second invention, with regard to the medical image data stored in the low-speed image data storage device, the medical image data that can be used is specified by referring to the information that can specify the subject, and used. Before the occurrence of a read instruction at the time, the image is transferred to an image buffer that can be read at a higher speed than the image storage device.

In the above manner, when the medical image data of the subject is used as the reference image in the image terminal, the corresponding medical image data has already been transferred. Time for reading image data can be saved.

Therefore, the medical image data stored in the low-speed auxiliary storage device can be used as a reference image for comparative diagnosis. (3) A third invention is an image data storage device for storing medical image data, a plurality of image terminals capable of handling medical image data at a higher speed than the image data storage device, and an object to be specified. Control means for transferring medical image data related to a subject to an image terminal scheduled to use medical image data among the plurality of image terminals, before a read instruction occurs when using medical image data by referring to information, A medical image management system comprising:

Here, the information capable of specifying the subject corresponds to information generated in connection with the subject, such as reservation information and consultation information. That is, in the third aspect, the medical image data stored in the image data storage device is referred to the information that can specify the subject, so that there is a possibility that the medical image data can be used before the read instruction at the time of use is issued. The medical image data is transferred to the image terminal that is to use the medical image data among the plurality of image terminals.

In the above manner, when medical image data of a subject is used as a reference image in an image terminal, the medical image data has already been transferred to the image terminal. When the image terminal reads the image data from the image buffer of the image server, the time required to read the medical image data from the low-speed auxiliary storage device can be saved.

Therefore, the medical image data stored in the low-speed auxiliary storage device can be used as a reference image for comparative diagnosis. (4) A fourth invention provides an image data storage device for storing medical image data, an image server having an image buffer capable of handling medical image data at a higher speed than the image data storage device, A control unit for transferring medical image data related to the subject to the image buffer of the image server before issuing a readout instruction when using medical image data by referring to the identifiable information. Is a medical image management system.

Here, the information capable of specifying the subject corresponds to information generated in connection with the subject, such as reservation information and consultation information. That is, in the fourth invention, the medical image data stored in the image data storage device is referred to the information that can specify the subject, so that there is a possibility that the medical image data can be used before the read instruction at the time of use is issued. The medical image data is transferred to the image buffer of the image server.

In the above manner, when the image terminal uses the medical image data of the subject as the reference image, the corresponding medical image data is already transferred to the image buffer capable of handling the medical image data at high speed. Therefore, it is possible to save time for reading medical image data from a low-speed auxiliary storage device.

Therefore, the medical image data stored in the low-speed auxiliary storage device can be used as a reference image for comparative diagnosis.

[0026]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. <Configuration of Medical Image Management System> First, the configuration of the medical image management system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the configuration block diagram of FIG.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 100 denotes a network for interconnecting various devices to be described later.
Reference numeral 200 denotes a hospital information management host that accepts an appointment for a medical examination or an examination, and generates appointment information.

Reference numeral 300 denotes an image information management host which constitutes control means for managing medical image data, and controls reading and transfer of medical image data. The image information management host 300 can be built in an image server described later.

Numeral 400 denotes various image photographing apparatuses for generating medical image data by photographing a subject, and here, it is constituted by an image photographing apparatus 410 and an image photographing apparatus 420.

An image storage server (archiver) 500 constitutes an image data storage device for storing medical image data.
And a storage server 510 and an HD serving as an image buffer.
D520 and an image library 530 for long-term storage. This image library 530 has a low speed and large capacity (1
00TB (terabyte) to 1PB (petabyte)
And a device for storing old medical image data.

A department image server 600 for managing images for each department includes an image server 610 and a hard disk drive (HDD) 620 serving as an image buffer.
And an image library 530 of a medium capacity (about 1 TB) such as a magneto-optical disk drive.

The department image server 600 exists for each department when a plurality of departments (medical departments) exist in the entire system. However, a single image server 600 for managing images of the entire system is provided. It may be an image server.

The HDD 620 stores the image library 630
The medical image data can be read at a higher speed, and the image library 630 can read the medical image data at a higher speed than the image library 530.

The HDDs 520 and 620 can be provided separately for an HDD for storing an image directory and an HDD as an image buffer. In this case, an HDD serving as an image buffer is connected to a disk array device (RAID: redundant arrays of in expense).
ve disk) makes it possible to achieve high speed and high reliability.

An image display WS (work station) 700 serves as an image terminal for displaying a reference image for comparative diagnosis.
Here, image display WS710 to image display WS7
30.

<Operation of Medical Image Management System and Management Procedure of Medical Image Management Method> Here, the procedure of the medical image management method and the operation of the recording apparatus will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 1 and schematic diagrams of FIG. .

(A) Identification of medical image data: The image information management host 300 operates according to the image information management program.
It waits for the generation of the reservation information from the hospital information management host 200 and the consultation information from the image capturing device 400 (S1 in FIG. 1).

Here, the appointment information is information that is generated before the execution of a medical examination or examination when a patient makes an appointment for an examination or examination, and is information that can specify a subject before performing a comparative diagnosis. means.

The consultation information is information (image generation information) generated when a patient performs image capturing with the image capturing apparatus 400, and means information that can specify a subject before performing comparative diagnosis. .

When such reservation information or consultation information occurs, the image information management host 300 specifies a patient from various data included in the information. in this case,
It may be the name of the patient or a code assigned to the patient.

Hereinafter, such information that can specify the subject, such as the name of the patient and the code assigned to the patient, will be referred to as subject information. Then, the image information management host 300
Searches the image directory of the HDD or the image library of each server, and checks the medium on which the past medical image data of the specified subject exists and the directory thereof (S2 in FIG. 1).

When the past medical image data of the specified subject exists in the image library 530 of the image storage server 500 (S3 in FIG. 1), the image information management host 3
00 gives an instruction to read out the past medical image data of the specified subject to the image storage server 500 (S4 in FIG. 1).

Further, the past medical image data of the specified subject is stored in the image library 530 of the image storage server 500.
Does not exist in the image information management host 300 (FIG. 1S3).
Gives an instruction to read past medical image data of the specified subject to the department image server 600 (FIG. 1).
S5).

Then, the image information management host 300 specifies the image display WS 700 located at a place where the patient receives a medical examination (a possibility of performing a comparative diagnosis) with reference to the above-mentioned reservation information and consultation information ( (FIG. 1S6). In this case, the extraction is performed by extracting information such as the data of the medical department, the data of the examination item, and the data of the doctor in charge included in the reservation information and the consultation information.

If any one of the image displays WS700 can be specified, the medical image data to be read is transferred to the corresponding image display WS (S7 in FIG. 1). FIG. 3 shows this state. That is, the medical image data existing in the image storage server 500 is read and transferred to the identified image display WS 700 (FIG. 3A). Further, the medical image data existing in the department server 600 is read and transferred to the identified image display WS 700 (FIG. 3).
(B)) If the image display WS cannot be specified,
The medical image data to be read out is stored in the departmental image server 600.
To the HDD (image buffer) 620 of FIG.
8).

FIG. 4 shows this state. That is, the medical image data existing in the image storage server 500 is read and transferred to the HDD 620 of the image storage server 600 (FIG. 4A). Further, the above operation of reading out the medical image data existing in the image library 630 of the department server 600 and transferring it to the HDD 620 (FIG. 4B) is performed by the image information management host when the reservation information or the consultation information is generated. 300 executes. That is, it is executed before the corresponding medical image data is used for the comparative diagnosis (before the readout instruction from the image display WS 700 is issued).

In this case, since the reservation information is determined by the day before the comparison diagnosis is performed, it is possible to respond with a margin. Further, when the image capturing apparatus 400 starts image capturing (image capturing preparation), the consultation information is transmitted to the image information management host 30.
0, the image capturing device 400 prepares for capturing,
It is possible to read and transfer medical image data during a period in which imaging and image processing after imaging are being performed.

When the past medical image data of the subject is actually used for comparative diagnosis in the image display WS700, the image display WS700 checks whether or not the past medical image data of the subject exists in the built-in memory or the image buffer. (FIG. 1S
9) If it does not exist, the section image server 600
Is requested to transfer the corresponding medical image data (S10 in FIG. 1).

FIG. 4A shows the state of transfer in response to this request.
4 (b), a broken line from the department image server 600 to the image display WS700 is shown. Then, the image display WS 700 reads out the already transferred medical image data from the built-in memory or the like, and displays the medical image data as a reference image for comparative diagnosis (S11 in FIG. 1).

In the manner described above, when the medical image data of the subject is used as the reference image in the image display WS, the corresponding medical image data is used for the department WS 600.
Image buffer or image display WS700 to be used
The time required to read medical image data from the low-speed auxiliary storage device (the image library 530 of the image storage server 500) can be saved.

Therefore, the medical image data stored in the low-speed auxiliary storage device, which conventionally required several tens of minutes for reading, can be promptly displayed as a reference image for comparative diagnosis.

<Other Configurations of Medical Image Management System> In the medical image management system used in the above description, a control unit for managing medical image data exists as the image information management host 300. The same effect can be obtained by incorporating the program in either the storage server 510 or the image server 610.

Further, in the medical image management system described above, an example in which a plurality of devices are interconnected via the network 100 has been described as an example. 1
And at least one image display WS (image terminal) and at least one of the image storage server and the departmental image server (the image information management program is incorporated as described above). Is possible.

[0054]

As described above in detail with the embodiments, according to the inventions described in this specification, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) In the medical image management method of the first invention, medical image data stored in a low-speed image data storage device may be used by referring to information capable of specifying a subject. By specifying medical image data and performing control to transfer the image data to an image buffer that can be read at a higher speed than the image storage device before the reading instruction at the time of use occurs, the medical image data of the subject is When used as a reference image, since the corresponding medical image data has already been transferred, it is possible to save the time for reading the medical image data from the low-speed auxiliary storage device.

Therefore, the medical image data stored in the low-speed auxiliary storage device can be used as a reference image for comparative diagnosis. (2) In the medical image management method according to the second aspect of the present invention, medical image data stored in a low-speed image data storage device is referred to information that can specify a subject, and medical image data that can be used is referred to. By specifying, and before the occurrence of a read instruction at the time of use, by performing control to transfer to an image buffer that can be read faster than the image storage device, the medical image data of the subject is used as a reference image in the image terminal. At the time of use, since the corresponding medical image data has already been transferred, the time for reading the medical image data from the low-speed auxiliary storage device can be saved.

Therefore, the medical image data stored in the low-speed auxiliary storage device can be used as a reference image for comparative diagnosis.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a procedure of medical image data management of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an overall configuration example of a medical image management system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an operation state of the medical image management system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an operation state of the medical image management system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing an overall configuration example of a conventional medical image management system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 100 network 200 hospital information management host 300 image information management host 400 image photographing device 500 image storage server (image storage device) 600 department image server 700 image display WS (image terminal)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image buffer for medical image data stored in an image data storage device, which can be used by referring to information that can identify a subject before issuing a read instruction when using the medical image data. A medical image management method, wherein the medical image is transferred to a medical device. 2. An image data storage device that stores medical image data, an image buffer that can read medical image data at a higher speed than the image data storage device, and information that can specify a subject. Control means for transferring medical image data related to the subject to the image buffer before issuing a readout instruction when using medical image data.