JPH11151208A - Medical examination system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute processing programs intrinsic to the respective kinds of medical examination devices on the side of a data processor without the problems of updating the processing programs and setting parameters or the like. SOLUTION: In the case of executing intrinsic image processings to X-ray CT images and MR images, image processing programs intrinsic to them stored in the hard disk device 23 of an X-ray CT console 20 and the hard disk device 33 of an MRI console 30 are fetched through a network 50 to a data processing console 10. Then, they are loaded to the memory 12 and the processings are executed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a medical examination system in which various medical examination apparatuses such as an X-ray CT apparatus, an MRI apparatus or a gamma camera apparatus and a data processing apparatus are interconnected via a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a medical examination system in which various medical examination apparatuses such as an X-ray CT apparatus, an MRI apparatus or a gamma camera apparatus and a data processing apparatus are interconnected via a network, the data processing apparatuses are each medical examination apparatus. It is common practice to receive data transfer from, and to perform processing such as filter processing, 3D processing, or image display of image data. Normally, programs for these processes are stored in a storage medium (such as a hard disk device) built in the data processing device, read out as necessary, loaded into the memory, and then processed by the CPU based on the program. I do.

[0003]

However, such a conventional configuration has the following problems. First, X
Various types of medical examination devices such as X-ray CT, MRI, and gamma camera devices have different characteristics of the data collected by these devices. Therefore, it is necessary to process data with a unique processing program according to the difference in the characteristics. There is.
For this reason, these unique processing programs are stored in individual medical examination devices. However, the data processing device receives data transferred from each medical examination device, and processes the data with each processing program. In addition, the data processing device needs to store the processing program.

For this reason, the number of processing programs that must be stored on the data processing device side is enormous, and it is impossible to store all of them in a hard disk device having a finite storage capacity. Moreover,
When a processing program is updated (revision up) on the side of each medical examination apparatus such as an X-ray CT apparatus or an MRI apparatus, or when various parameters are set, a data processing apparatus is adjusted accordingly. Also, the processing program on the side needs to be updated or the like, otherwise the operation or the like will be different, and the operability will be hindered.

In view of the above, the present invention does not require an enormous amount of storage on the data processing device side, and does not require any problems such as updating of processing programs and parameter setting. An object of the present invention is to provide a medical examination system improved so that a processing program unique to an examination apparatus can be executed.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a medical examination system comprising a medical examination apparatus, a data processing apparatus, and a network connecting the data processing apparatus. When processing the data transferred from the medical examination apparatus via the network, the processing program specific to the apparatus stored in the medical examination apparatus is fetched from the medical examination apparatus via the network, and the processing program It is characterized in that a means for performing processing by using is provided.

When data is transferred from a medical examination apparatus to a data processing apparatus via a network, and the data processing apparatus intends to process the data, a processing program unique to the medical examination apparatus is also transmitted from the apparatus via the network. Since they are transferred, they can be captured and processed. Therefore, when various parameters of a processing program are set or a revision is performed on the medical examination apparatus side, the data processing apparatus side transfers and uses the whole as it is. as a result,
It is now possible to perform data processing with the same unified operation as that performed on the medical examination device side, without having to perform parameter setting operations and revision up on the data processing device side. Become. Then, since the processing program is also transferred from the medical examination apparatus to the data processing apparatus, the data processing apparatus does not need to store these, and the storage capacity of the hard disk device or the like does not need to be excessively increased.

[0008]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the medical examination system illustrated in FIG. 1, the console 10 of the data processing apparatus is connected to the console 20 of the X-ray CT apparatus and the console 30 of the MRI apparatus via a network 50. The X-ray CT console 20 includes a CPU 21, a memory 22, a hard disk device 23, and a network interface 24, and further includes a unique controller (not shown), which are connected via an appropriate bus. It controls equipment such as a ray tube, an X-ray detector, and a gantry for scanning these, collects data, and performs image reconstruction processing. The hard disk drive 23 has X-ray CT data acquisition, X-ray CT image reconstruction, X-ray CT image specific and general image processing,
A program for image data transfer and the like, various set parameters, and the like are stored. These are read out by the CPU 21 at any time, read into the memory 22, and each processing and control is performed. .

The MRI console 30 includes a CPU 31 and
A memory 32, a hard disk device 33, a network interface 34, and a controller (not shown) are provided, and these are connected via an appropriate bus. It controls equipment such as a generator and processes the collected data to reconstruct image data. For this reason, the hard disk device 33 stores programs for MR data acquisition based on pulse sequences, MR image reconstruction, MR image-specific and general image processing, image data transfer, and various set parameters, and the like. ing. These programs and various parameters are read out by the CPU 31 as needed, read into the memory 32, and each processing and control is performed.

The data processing console 10 is connected to the CP
U11, memory 12, hard disk device 13,
A network interface 14 and a controller and a display circuit / display device (not shown) are provided, and these are connected via an appropriate bus.
Processing such as filtering, 3D processing, or image display is performed on the image data obtained by the RI console 30. The hard disk device 13 of the data processing console 10
Stores the minimum programs necessary for image display, data transfer, etc., and does not store image processing programs specific to X-ray CT images, MR images, and the like.

In the medical examination system configured as described above, when an X-ray CT examination or an MRI examination is performed, the X-ray CT console 20 or the MRI console 30 performs an image reconstruction process on the collected data, and
Line CT image data and MR image data are obtained. Subsequently, the X-ray CT console 20 and the MRI console 30
In, processing of image data can also be performed. At that time, an image processing program specific to the X-ray CT image data or MR image data may be used.

In order to improve examination efficiency, when image data is reconstructed in the X-ray CT console 20 and the MRI console 30, the image data is transferred to the data processing console 10, and the subsequent image processing is performed in the data processing console 10. It is effective to collect data on another patient at the X-ray CT console 20 and the MRI console 30 simultaneously and in parallel. In this case, in the case of general image processing or image display, the CPU 11 reads out the processing program stored in the hard disk device 13 and loads it into the memory 12 to execute the processing. When performing image processing specific to X-ray CT image data or MR image data, the X-ray CT console 2
0 and the hard disk device 23 of the MRI console 30,
33, the unique processing program and various setting parameters respectively stored in the CP as shown by the dotted line.
U21, 31, network interface 24, 3
4 to the data processing console 10 via the network 50 and the network interface 1
4. Load the data into the memory 12 via the CPU 11 and execute the processing. Such a program of loading a processing program stored in the hard disk device of another console into its own memory 12 via the network 50 and executing the same is itself a data processing console 10.
Of the CPU 1
1 reads and executes this.

Therefore, the hard disk device 13 of the data processing console 10 displays images, transfers data,
Since it is sufficient to store only a minimum program related to program loading and the like, it is not necessary to increase the storage capacity and the size can be reduced. In addition, since the image processing program specific to the X-ray CT image data and the MR image data is transferred from the hard disk devices 23 and 33 of the X-ray CT console 20 and the MRI console 30 together with various setting parameters, the image processing program Are updated on the X-ray CT console 20 and the MRI console 30 and when parameters and the like are newly set, these latest ones can be used as they are and the data processing console 10 can There is no need to perform revision up or parameter setting operations. So, without the need for cumbersome operations,
The operation on the data processing console 10 side can be unified to the operation on the X-ray CT console 20 and MRI console 30 sides.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration obtained by adding a gamma camera console 40 to the configuration of FIG. Also in this case, the added image processing program specific to the gamma camera is transferred to the data processing console 10 via the network 50 as indicated by the dotted line, and the image processing based on the program is executed. As described above, when a new medical examination device such as a gamma camera is added to the network 50 of the existing medical examination system, it is easy to execute an image processing program unique to that device.

The above description relates to one embodiment of the present invention, and it is a matter of course that the present invention is not limited to the above description. An image processing program unique to an X-ray CT image, an MR image, or the like can be stored in the hard disk device 13 of the data processing console 10 as long as it is frequently used. Not only the apparatus, the MRI apparatus, and the gamma camera apparatus but also other medical examination apparatuses can be connected, and other specific configurations can be variously changed.

[0016]

As described above, according to the medical examination system of the present invention, since the minimum program needs to be stored in the hard disk device of the data processing device, the storage capacity is increased. This eliminates the need for downsizing and enables easy management of program revision. Since the latest image processing program and the latest parameters in each medical examination device can be used directly in the data processing device, inconveniences such as discrepancies in operations for image processing between each medical examination device and the data processing device can be avoided. Does not occur.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a modification.

[Description of Signs] 10 Data processing console 20 X-ray CT
Console 30 MRI console 40 Gamma camera console 50 Network 11, 21, 31 CPU 12, 22, 32 Memory 13, 23, 33 Hard disk drive 14, 24, 34 Network interface

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A medical examination apparatus comprising: a medical examination apparatus; a data processing apparatus; and a network connecting the medical examination apparatus, and the data processing apparatus performs a medical examination when processing data transferred from the medical examination apparatus via the network. A medical examination system comprising means for fetching a processing program unique to the apparatus stored in the apparatus from the medical examination apparatus via a network and performing processing using the processing program.