JPS63102551A - Medical image accumulating method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain the correction of erroneously inputted data and to prevent the erroneous displaying and the erroneous recording of the data for retrieving an by providing an area for a substitution directory at an optical disk and recording the data for retrieving the image to correct the part of the error at the area. CONSTITUTION:Patient information S2 and photographing information S3 are transferred from an image processing device 30 through a system control device 51 of an image filing device 50 to an optical disk device 52, and in the same way, recorded and accumulated to an optical disk 67 together with image data S1 transferred from the image processing device 30. The image data S1 is recorded for one image at an area 80 for recording image data in an optical disk 67. In an area 82 for an image directory, one image directory 83 (83A, 83B, 83C...)corresponding to image data 81 is recorded. Further, an area 84 to form substitution directories 89A, 89B, 89C... is provided, the corrected data for retrieving the image is recorded at respective substitution directories, and the data to show the image directory substituted by the substitution directory at the time of reading the image data are recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a medical image storage method for recording and storing image data carrying medical images such as radiation images on an optical disk in a searchable manner.

(Prior Art) Many medical images have been used for medical treatment or research in medical institutions such as hospitals. Most of these medical images are radiographic images, but recently, 07 images and MR images have also been increasingly used.

By the way, it is necessary to keep such medical images in order to know the changes in the patient's injury and disease, and the law requires that they be kept for a specified period of time. will increase day by day. Conventionally, these medical images have been stored in the form of hard copies, so securing storage space, management work, and search work have become a heavy burden on each hospital.

Therefore, recently, so-called electronic filing has been proposed in which medical images are recorded and stored in a searchable manner in a recording medium such as an optical disk in the form of image data. If medical images are recorded and stored (filed) in a recording medium in this manner, space and labor savings are realized in image storage, and image retrieval work is also facilitated and speeded up.

Furthermore, since the amount of image data that carries such medical images is enormous even for one image, an optical disk with an extremely large storage capacity is normally used as a recording medium to record and accumulate this image data. .

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, in the above-mentioned electronic filing system for medical images, a directory indicating the search data is recorded along with the image data on the optical disk, and when re-outputting the image, it is based on this directory. Consideration has been given to displaying or recording data for image retrieval, such as the patient's name, diagnosis subject, date of imaging, etc., along with the image.

Such image search data may be input incorrectly at first, and if this happens, the image search data will be incorrectly displayed or recorded when the image is re-outputted.

Even if some image search data is entered incorrectly, image search is possible if other image search data is given as a search condition, but the above incorrect display or recording may occur when re-outputting images. It will definitely happen. For example, misdisplaying or recording a patient's name, gender, etc. is disrespectful to the patient and may even lead to misdiagnosis.

Therefore, it is desirable to correct data that has been entered incorrectly, but as is well known, the optical discs currently in use are of the so-called write-once type that cannot be rewritten. It is impossible to correct.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a medical image storage method that can prevent erroneous display and erroneous recording of image search data even when a write-once optical disc is used.

(Means for Solving the Problems) As described above, the medical image storage method of the present invention is a medical image storage method in which image data is recorded and stored on an optical disk in correspondence with an image directory indicating image search data. In the method, an area is set on the optical disc for providing a replacement directory different from the above-mentioned image directory, corrected image search data is recorded in each replacement directory, and image data is read out and images to be replaced with the poetry replacement directory. This is characterized in that data indicating a directory is recorded.

(Operation) If there is an error in part of the image search data recorded in a certain image directory, the image search data with the error part corrected is recorded in the replacement directory, and the data is replaced with this replacement directory. If the image directory to be replaced is indicated, the correct replacement directory can be read instead of this image directory when re-outputting the image, and the image data can be read based on it. If the image search data is displayed or recorded based on the contents of this replacement directory, the correct image search data will be displayed or recorded.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an image filing device for storing medical images according to the method of the present invention.

This image filing device 50 basically includes a system control device 51, an optical disk device 52, and a keyboard 61.
An operation console 61 consisting of A and a display device 61B such as a CRT
It is composed of. This image filing device 50 is connected to the image processing device 30. The image processing device 30 receives image data S1 from the radiation image information recording/reading device 10 as an example of an image data supply source, performs predetermined image processing on the data S1, and sends the data S1 to the image output device 70.

The radiation image information recording/reading device 10 is, for example,
No. 1-29834, No. 61-94035, etc., in which a stimulable phosphor sheet 11 is circulated and conveyed along a circulation path 12 and stopped at a position facing a photographing table 13. By irradiating the phosphor sheet 11 with radiation 15 emitted from the radiation source 14, the sheet 1
16 transmission radiographic images of 16 subjects (patients) are stored and recorded. The stimulable phosphor sheet 11 on which the radiation image has been recorded in this way is exposed to laser light in the image reading section. Laser light 18 emitted from 17 and deflected by optical deflector 19
The image is scanned two-dimensionally by In this way, stimulated luminescence light carrying radiation image information is emitted from the portion of the sheet 11 that has been irradiated with the laser light 18 as excitation light, and this stimulated luminescence light is transmitted through the condenser 20 to the photomultiplier.
It is photoelectrically detected by a photodetector 21 such as.

The analog output of the photodetector 21 is amplified, A/D converted, and output from the radiation image information recording/reading device 10 as digital image data S1 carrying a radiation image of the subject 16. Storable phosphor sheet 1 after image reading has been completed
1 is then sent to the erasing section 22, where it is irradiated with erasing light and made ready to record radiation image information again.

Further, an ID terminal 25 is connected to the radiographic image information recording/reading device 10, and information written on the ID card 26 of the patient 16 (hereinafter referred to as patient information), including the patient's name, gender, and year of birth. Information such as month and date is read, and various conditions related to radiography (hereinafter referred to as imaging information)'1j, such as image number, imaging date, imaging site, imaging size, reading sensitivity, etc., are input. be done.

This patient information S2 and imaging information S3 are transmitted to the image processing device 30 together with the image data S1.

In the image processing device 30, digital image data S1
For example, 20 or more types of gradation processing and 10 or more types of frequency processing can be performed on the image. All of these image processing conditions are tabulated, and the optimum conditions are automatically selected according to the photographing conditions set at the ID terminal 25 described above. Image data S1' subjected to image processing under optimal conditions in the image processing device 30 is sent to the image output device 70.

This image output device 70 outputs the image data S1', for example.
It consists of an optical scanning recording device that two-dimensionally scans a photosensitive film with a light beam modulated based on the An image carried by image data 81', that is, a transmitted radiation image of the patient 16 is recorded on the photosensitive film.

The hard copy 71 of the radiographic image formed using the photosensitive film as described above is used for diagnosis of the patient 16. Note that as the image output device 70, in addition to the device having the above configuration, for example, a CR7 display device or the like may be used.

Next, recording and accumulation (filing) of radiation images by the image filing device 50 will be explained.

System control device 51 of this image filing device 50
consists of a known computer system, including a CPU (central processing unit) 53, a memory 54, an interface 55.
56, a disk drive control device 57, a bus 58 that connects the above parts, a magnetic disk drive 59, and a floppy disk drive 60. The aforementioned keyboard 61A and display device 61B are connected to the aforementioned CPU.
53, and the interface 55 is connected to the interface 31 of the image processing device 1ff30. - The destination disk device 52 includes an interface 62 connected to the interface 56 of the system control device 51, an optical disk drive control device 63, and an optical disk drive 64.

The patient information S2 and imaging information s3 described above are transferred from the image processing device 30 to the system control device 51, and these pieces of information are sequentially recorded on a magnetic disk 65 driven by a magnetic disk drive 59 to construct a database. Note that the floppy disk 66 driven by the floppy disk drive 60 is used for drive control of the system. The above patient information S2 and imaging information S3
is also transferred to the optical disk device 52 and recorded and accumulated on the optical disk 61 driven by the optical disk drive 64 together with the image data S1 also transferred from the image processing device 23o. At this time, the image data S1 bypasses the image processing section in the image processing device 30 and is recorded on the optical disc 67 in the state of so-called raw data that is not subjected to image processing.

Here, with reference to FIG. 2, recording of the image data S1, patient information S2, and imaging information S3 on the optical disc 67 will be explained in detail. This figure 2 shows the optical disc 67
This shows an outline of the recording format. 1 on the vertical axis in the diagram
A scale indicates one track on the optical disc, and one scale on the horizontal axis indicates one sector. The image data S1 is recorded one image at a time in a sufficiently wide image data recording area 80 on the optical disc 67. As is well known, this data recording is done by forming or not forming bits on the disk surface. Before and after one piece of image data 81, a header 81A1 for recording patient information S2 and imaging information S3 corresponding to the image data 81 and data S4 indicating image processing conditions in the image processing unit 230 are provided.
Blocks 81B and 81C are provided for recording. This image processing condition is the condition of the image processing itself that the image data S1 undergoes in the image processing device 30 when the image data S1 is immediately sent to the image output device 70 and output as an image.

When the image data 81 is recorded on the optical disc 67 as described above, the image directory 83 (83A, 83B, 83G...) corresponding to the image data 81 is recorded in the area 82 for the image directory.
One is recorded. This image directory 83 basically contains the start address of the header 81A of each image data 81, the sector length of the image data 81, and the image data 81.
Characteristic information regarding 1 is recorded.

In addition to the areas 80 and 82 mentioned above, the optical disc 67 has
Replacement directories 89A, 89B, 89G to be detailed later
. . , and an area 85 for forming a directory corresponding to newly recorded data when, for example, medical chart contents are newly recorded. In addition, the first track of the optical disc 67 includes a block 86 for recording the serial number of each disc and identification codes for side A and B, and a block 87 for indicating that the optical disc is satisfied, as well as a large number of directory entry blocks. 88A, 88B, 8
8G... is now available. The first directory entry block 88A indicates that a group of image directories 83A, 83B, 83G, etc. is formed, and the image directory group (
The start address and sector length of the directory group (which is a directory group formed in the area 82) are recorded. The second directory entry block 88B contains a replacement directory group (89
A, 898, 890...), and the third and subsequent directory entry blocks 88G... are used to sequentially record the start addresses and sector lengths of each future directory group. It is provided.

As described above, the image data S1 is stored on the optical disk 67.
is recorded one image at a time, and patient information S2, dance information tFis3, and image processing condition data S4 are sequentially recorded in association with each image data S1. Note that it is preferable that the image data S1 be compressed using a known image data compression technique and then recorded on the optical disc 67, since the number of images that can be stored on the optical disc 67 can be increased. In addition to patient information S2 and photographic information S3, the optical disk 67 records image data that is frequently used. If data compression technology is applied, for example, about 1000 hemp images can be recorded on one optical disk 67. can be recorded and accumulated. On the other hand, the magnetic disk drive 5 has a lower recording capacity than the optical disk 67, but since only patient information S2 and imaging information S3 are recorded there, it is possible to store patient information S2 and imaging information S3 for about 1 million images, for example. It is.

Next, image retrieval and re-output will be explained.

As described above, patient information S2 and imaging information S3 are stored on the magnetic disk 65, and a database for image search is constructed. The image searcher uses the operation console 61
Desired search data is input by operating the keyboard 61A while observing the display device 61B@. The system control radical 51 searches for images corresponding to the input search data from the database built on the magnetic disk 65, and displays an image list of those images on the display device 6.
13. In principle, all information among the patient information S2 and the imaging information S3 can be used as the above-mentioned search data. For example, when a patient name in the patient information S2 is specified as search data, the display device 613 displays an image list showing the image numbers of all images related to the specified patient, patient information S2 other than the name, and reflux information S3. is displayed.

The searcher looks at the displayed image list, selects a desired image, and makes a reservation for re-output. This reserved image number is stored in memory 54. By doing this, even if the image processing device 30 and the image output device 70 are in operation to immediately output an image based on the image data S1 sent from the radiation image information recording/reading device 10, the image search can be performed. You can just get the work done. Furthermore, even if the searched image is recorded on an optical disk other than the optical disk 67 loaded in the optical disk device 52 at the time of the search, the search work will not be wasted, and after the reservation described above, Then, the user can load the optical disk on which the reserved image is recorded into the optical disk device 52 and proceed to re-output the image.

After the above reservation is made, when information indicating that the image processing device 30 has stopped operating is input to the system control device 51, the system control device 51 drives the optical disk device 52, and the reservation is made from the optical disk 67. read out the image. When reading this image, the first directory entry block 88A serves as a pointer, and an instruction to read the image directory group (area 82) is given, and the image directories 83A, 83B, 83C, . . .
・ is read.

Then, one image directory 83 in which the reserved image number is written becomes a pointer, and one header 81A indicated by the image directory 83 is specified, and the header 81A and the corresponding image data 81, blocks 81B, 81G The recorded contents are read out.

Image data 81 (Sl) read out as described above
Then, the patient information S2 and imaging information S3 recorded in the header 81A, and the data S4 indicating the image processing conditions recorded in the block 81B181C are transferred from the system control device 51 to the image processing device 30. The image data 81 is processed by the above-mentioned data S in this image processing device 30.
After undergoing image processing such as gradation processing and frequency processing according to the image processing conditions indicated by 4, the image is sent to the image output device 70. In the image output device 70, an image is output in the same manner as described above based on this image-processed image data 81', and a hard copy 71 of a radiation image is formed. The patient information S2 and the imaging information S3 are used to write patient information and imaging information in the hard copy 71.

Next, when incorrect image search data (that is, patient information S2 and imaging information 33) is recorded in the image directory 83, how to prevent this incorrect information from being recorded in the hard copy 71. explain. After performing an image search as described above and selecting a desired image while observing the display device 613, for example, when "image search data display mode" is specified using the keyboard 61A, the CPU 53 selects the selected image. The related patient information S2 and imaging information S3 are all displayed on the display device 61B. Next, after specifying the "image search data correction mode" and correcting the incorrect items in the displayed information S2 and S3 using the keyboard 61A, the CPU 53 saves the same directory as the image directory 83 except for the corrected items. A new recording is made on the optical disc 67. These directories are recorded as replacement directories 89A, 89B, 89C, . . . in the area 84 mentioned above. Then, the CPU S3 causes the replacement directory 89 to also record the number of the image directory 83 in which the above-mentioned incorrect information S2 and S3 was recorded. Thus area 8
When at least one replacement directory 89 is recorded in 4, the second directory entry block 88B described above is recorded.

When performing an image search and re-output after the replacement directory 89 has been recorded in this way, the image directories 83A1838, 8
30... are read, and the replacement directories 89A, 89B, 89C... are read using the directory entry block 88B as a pointer. At this time, each replacement directory 89A, 89B189G is
Image directory 83, each with a number recorded
used as an alternative to. That is, for example, if there is an error in the contents of the image directory 83C corresponding to certain image data 81, and the corrected version is recorded as the replacement directory 89A, this replacement directory 89A will be used to replace the image directory 83G and store the images. It is used for reading data 81 and recording patient information S2 and motion information S3. By doing so, even if incorrect patient information S2 or photographic information S3 is accidentally recorded and accumulated on the optical disc 67, it becomes possible to correct it and record it on the hard copy 71.

Note that if no replacement directories 89 are recorded, the directory entry block 88B that serves as a pointer to them is not recorded, so data in the area 84 is not read. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the image data reading speed from decreasing unnecessarily due to the setting of the area 84.

The above description has been made regarding the case of storing a radiation DA image, which is one type of medical image, but the present invention is similarly applicable to the case of storing other medical images such as both CT images and MR images.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained in detail above, according to the medical image storage method of the present invention, even if incorrect image search data is once recorded and accumulated on a non-rewritable optical disk, the correct image can be corrected when re-outputting the medical image. It becomes possible to display or record data for image retrieval, and the reliability of medical image filling [1] can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an image filing device for storing medical images according to the method of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an overview of the recording format of an optical disc used in the device. 50... Image filing device 51... System control device 52... Optical disk device 67... Optical disk 81... Image data 82 recorded on the optical disk...
・Image directory recording area 83...Image directory 84...Replacement directory recording area 89...Replacement directory Figure 1n

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim] A medical image storage method for recording and storing image data carrying medical images on an optical disk in correspondence with an image directory indicating image search data, further comprising: A medical device characterized by setting an area for providing replacement directories, recording corrected image search data in each replacement directory, and recording data indicating an image directory to be replaced with the replacement directory when reading image data. Image storage method.