JPS6066731A - Recording and feed-back system of diagnostic continuous tomographic image - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a recording and reproducing system for tomographic images obtained by an ultrasound diagnostic device, etc., and in particular, to enable a doctor to accurately interpret a large amount of continuous tomographic image data of the same patient or examinee in a short time. It aims to make it possible to do so.

In recent years, advances in electronics have led to remarkable advances in medical equipment, making it possible to collect large amounts of data in a short amount of time. One of them is ultrasound,
Tomographic imaging devices that use wires, magnetic fields, etc. have also made remarkable progress, making it possible to obtain continuous tomographic images in a short period of time.

However, the method that doctors use to interpret the obtained tomographic images and look for bad parts is to take pictures one by one using a 351Il++ camera, Polaroid camera, multi-format camera, etc. or check through
The common method is to record still images on a videotape and play them back and examine them one by one.For doctors, it takes the same or more time to interpret the images as it does to collect the data, and these conventional methods However, there were concerns that it was not possible to diagnose large numbers of people, and that high-performance equipment could not be fully used. This inconvenience became even more serious when ultrasonic diagnostic equipment began to be used for mass screening for breast cancer, and more efficient diagnostic methods or image interpretation methods were desperately needed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a system for recording and reproducing continuous tomographic images for diagnosis, which reduces the burden on doctors of large amounts of image data and allows accurate interpretation in a short period of time.

According to this invention, still images of tomographic images of a human body taken at appropriate intervals are recorded in a first recorder capable of playing back, and the plurality of recorded still images are played back at a constant speed, and the reproduced images are Record it again on a second recorder that can play it.

The continuous tomographic image referred to in this invention refers to a longitudinal tomographic image obtained by cutting horizontally as shown in the human body 11 and 12 as shown in FIG.
This refers to diagonal tomograms, etc., and when the size of the image structure is the same in a series of tomograms, and the series of tomograms are combined three-dimensionally as shown in Figure 2, it is regular and can be used for diagnosis. This is a tomographic image that allows you to see areas in three dimensions. Although it is preferable that the intervals t between the tomographic images created be equal, they do not necessarily have to be equal; for example, if the distance between the first and second tomographic images is bifold, The intervals between the tomographic images may be different, such as 3 cylinders between the second tomographic image and the third tomographic image. Furthermore, the interval between each tomographic image can be freely selected depending on the size of the organ to be diagnosed and the size of the lesion, but in order to make a detailed diagnosis, finer intervals such as the 1-pharyngeal interval and the 2-pharyngeal interval are recommended. is good.

Furthermore, a still image refers to each tomographic image without movement of organs, such as an individual photograph taken on a 35 tone film.

Furthermore, playable recording devices include digital video discs, analog video discs, video tape recorders,
Any recorder capable of playback may be used, such as a video cassette recorder, 35-degree camera, etc. Analog video discs are most desirable because they allow recording and playback in a short time, automatically record and playback, play back at a certain speed, and repeat playback.

This regeneration speed is an important factor in diagnosis; if the regeneration speed is too fast, it may be possible to distinguish the presence, size, type, etc. of large lesions, but for example, small lesions of 1t-n1 or less cannot be distinguished. If the delay is too late, the diagnosis will take too long and will be inefficient, or it will be difficult to see the lesion in 3D, or it will be difficult to see the lesion in 3D, so it is better to look at still images. It also has disadvantages such as difficulty in diagnosis. Preferably, the playback speed when a doctor makes a diagnosis is 7 to 25 images per second,
More preferably, the speed is 10 to 20 sheets per second.

Also, the number of playbacks is, for example, 150 still images per second.
Even if you played it with a single disc, it would only take 10 seconds,
In order to make a proper diagnosis, even the most skilled doctors have difficulty detecting small or difficult-to-understand lesions, so it is preferable to repeat regeneration several times. Repeat playback means
For example, if we consider that there are 150 still images as shown in Figure 2, and the first image is number 1 and the last image is number 150, then the first image is played back at a speed of 15 frames per second. , if you go to the 150th size, you can go back to the 1st image and play it again, or if you start from the 1st image and get to the 150th image, then you can play it back from 150th image and play it back to the 1st image. You can also use the method of recording,
In order to perform playback in a short time and to make diagnosis easier, it is possible to always play from number 1, or to always play back from number 150 after playing from number 1 to number 150. method is preferred. Furthermore, the number of times the above playback can be repeated is unlimited, but
In order to improve the efficiency of diagnosis time and increase the accuracy of diagnosis, count the playback from number 1 to number 150 as one time.
2 to 6 times is desirable.

Recording the playback image on a recorder that can be played back again means that the still image is being played back at a certain speed, and it is important to record the same state as it is being played back at this constant speed. The image is recorded as a moving image, and
Objects in the image appear three-dimensionally, which is very useful for diagnosis. For this reason, a recorder that records playback images must play back the recorded images continuously and at least at a playback speed of 10 to 10 seconds per second compared to still images.
It is a device that can reproduce data at a speed of 20 seconds, and more preferably a machine that can store a large amount of data economically and for a long period of time. For this purpose, there are, for example, video tape recorders, video cassette recorders, etc. In addition, if these recordings and playbacks are performed manually for each patient or examinee, although interpretation can be done efficiently, recording takes time and the examination time required for each patient is reduced. becomes longer,
In particular, in the case of group examinations, the purpose of examining several dogs in a short period of time will be lost, so we will try to do it as efficiently as possible.
It is necessary to record and play.

For this reason, it is desirable to have a built-in control unit that can automatically perform recording and playback.

Next, the system of this invention will be explained with reference to the drawings. Third
The figure shows an example of this invention system. Patient or examinee 1
5 lies face down on the scanner bed 16, and places the region to be examined through an opening (not shown) in the bed 16 into a water tank 17 provided under the bed 16 for examination. A transducer 18 for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves is housed in the water tank 17, and this is connected to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body 19 with a cable 21. Automatically start outgoing scanning. At the same time, the control unit 22 automatically sets the control unit 25 of the analog video disc 24 to the recording state through the control line 23, and
is in a state where recording is possible (7). In this state, the still image of the tomographic image created by the ultrasound diagnostic device is displayed on the ultrasound diagnostic device main body 19.
is recorded on the video disc 24 through the video cable 26, and the controller 22 records the data on the video disc 24.
The number of still images recorded is counted.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body 19 sequentially creates tomographic images in which the examination region changes little by little, and the tomographic images are sequentially recorded on the video disk 24 through the video cable 26.

When the number of recordings recorded on the video disc 24 set in the control device 22 is completed, the control device 22 automatically switches the control section 25 of the video disc 24 to the playback mode, and at the same time automatically switches the control unit 25 of the video disc 24 to the playback mode, and The signal to the video disc 24 is stopped.

The control device 22 also includes a control section 25 of the video disc 24.
When the video cassette recorder 28 is switched to the playback mode, the video cassette recorder 28 is simultaneously set to a recordable state via the control line 27. Thereafter, the still image recorded on the video disk (8) 24 is played back at the playback speed set in the control device 22.

The reproduced images are continuously recorded again on the video cassette recorder 28 via the video cable 29.

For example, you can store 150 still images on a video disk 24.
, the 150 still images are played back from the video disk 24 at a rate of, say, 15 frames per second and recorded again on the video cassette recorder 28 . When this work is completed in 10 seconds, for example, the control device 22
Then, the control section 25 of the video disc 24 automatically changes to the reverse playback state, plays back 150 still images again, this time from the reverse direction, at a speed of 15 frames per second, and records them on the video cassette recorder 29 in the same way. . When this repeated reproduction is completed the number of times set in the control device 22, the control device 22 changes the video cassette recorder 29 to a stopped state or a paused state, and the recording of the video cassette recorder 29 ends. ! At the same time, the control section 25 of the video disc 24 is brought to a halt state, and the reproduction of the video disc 24 ends.

The control device 22 is in a standby state until it receives the next activation signal from the operator.

Conventionally, if a doctor wanted to interpret 150 still images, it would take 25 minutes to interpret them all, even if each image required 10 seconds, but with the system of this invention, recorded images can be interpreted. For example, even if the playback speed is 15 images per second and the number of playback repetitions is 5, it will take only 50 seconds.This is simply the time it takes to interpret the data obtained from one patient or examinee. There is a difference, but when a large number of patients are to be processed, such as in a group medical examination, the difference becomes even larger and can be said to be a very effective method.

Experimental examples of this invention will be shown below.

An ultrasonic diagnostic device (trade name: System 1) was used as a machine for obtaining continuous tomographic images. There is still an analog video disk in the first recorder that records still images obtained from the ultrasound diagnostic equipment and can play back the recorded still images at a constant speed, and a second recorder that records the played images. Using a video cassette recorder that can record and play,
A control device was prepared to control these machines, and a system as shown in Fig. 3 was prepared, and this system was used for mass medical examinations. The diagnosis site is the breast, and the imaging method for each patient is to first scan the right breast at 75 mm above and below, centering on the nipple.
A total of 75 tomographic images were obtained from the cranial side at intervals of 2 panes.
Next, 75 tomographic images were obtained for the left breast in the same manner.

The recording method is that each tomographic image of the right breast is automatically recorded onto an analog video disk as it is created, and when the imaging of the right breast is completed, the control device automatically increases the playback speed to 15 images per second. This playback image is automatically recorded on the video cassette recorder at a repetition rate of 5 times, and when the left breast imaging is completed, it is recorded again in the same manner as 7 times.
Five images were recorded on a video disc recorder from an analog video disc. Sixty patients were examined using this method, and the image data obtained was collected on a video cassette.

The time required for the examination per person is as follows.

It took 2 minutes 20 seconds to image one breast, 4 minutes 40 seconds for both sides, and the resulting still images were played back at a speed of 15 seconds per second.
It took 1 minute for both breasts to record on a video cassette recorder with 5 repetitions, and a total of 5 minutes and 40 seconds for each patient. The resulting video cassette images were later interpreted by a doctor. At the same time, 150 still images of each patient were taken on both sides using a Polaroid camera, and the time taken to interpret these photos was compared. It took two hours to interpret the image data of 60 patients recorded on a video cassette, including the time to re-look at the images of the patients who looked suspicious after seeing it once, resulting in one case of breast cancer with a diameter of 1 m, and 10 cases of mammary gland disease.
For example, five cases were discovered. Images recorded on videocassettes appeared three-dimensional, and the lesions appeared to be dancing. For example, in the case of cancer, the outer wall of the lesion was jagged, as shown at 31 in FIG. 4, and the interior was uneven, and could be clearly distinguished from its surroundings in the reconstructed image. In addition, the glue was clearly black in the image, as shown by 32 in Figure 5, and the outside was smooth and looked like an egg.

Also, 150 Polaroid photos of one patient taken at the same time.
When looking at the images and interpreting them, it took an average of 3 seconds for each image, and 7 seconds for the whole image.
It took 5 minutes. If you watch 60 people at this speed, it will be 7.
It took 5 hours, and if we looked at it in more detail, it would take even longer, and it was found that in mass examinations that handle a large number of patients, it would be a huge burden on the doctors who interpret the images.

As described above, the image data taken by the system of the present invention can be processed much more efficiently by the doctor who interprets the image than with conventional methods. Note that when tomographic images obtained by an ultrasound diagnostic device are sequentially recorded on a recorder and then played back and interpreted, it takes a long time to play back and interpret each tomographic image, so one set of After sequentially reproducing tomographic images, for example, 75 tomographic images of one breast, multiple times,
It is conceivable to sequentially reproduce the next set of tomographic images in the same way, but in this case, reading out and other controls for that set of tomographic images would be complicated, and it would be a burden on the operator to perform it manually. Because of the large size, it is difficult to interpret many sets of tomographic images as in a mass medical examination, and the equipment would be complicated to do it automatically. However, according to the system of the present invention, by using two recorders, interpretation can be performed with a simple operation and control device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of how to cut a tomographic image to obtain a tomographic image of the breast, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of multiple tomographic images obtained by the cutting method shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the system according to the present invention, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams showing examples of tomographic images of the breast, respectively. 18 Nidorans duuser, 19: Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment main body,
22: Control device, 24: Analog video disk as a first recording device, 28: Video cassette recorder as a second recording device. Patent applicant: Asahi Medical Co., Ltd. agent Takashi Kusano (15)

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) Record still images of tomographic images of the human body taken at appropriate intervals on the first recorder that can be played back, play back the recorded multiple still images at a constant speed, and then play back the played images again. Recording and playback system for continuous tomographic images for diagnosis that is recorded on a second recorder that can be used (2) The system for recording and reproducing continuous tomographic images for diagnosis according to claim 1, wherein the playback speed of the recorded still images is 10 to 20 images per second in the final playback state. (3) The continuous tomographic image recording and reproducing system for diagnosis according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the recorded still image is repeatedly reproduced 2 to 6 times. (4) operation of recording a still image of the tomographic image on the first recording device;
and a built-in control device that automatically reproduces the recorded tomographic image at a constant speed and records the reproduced image again on a second recording device. A recording and playback system for continuous tomographic images for diagnosis.