JPWO2015008650A1 - Medical image management apparatus and medical image management method - Google Patents

Abstract

In order to manage medical images stored on a medium and reduce the total size of the DICOMDIR file, which is a management file stored on the medium together with the medical images, to improve responsiveness in reading and writing data, the present invention provides a medium The regularity is extracted from the management file of the medical image group stored in, and the management file is compressed based on the extracted regularity. Specifically, a medium input / output unit that stores medical images on a medium, a selection unit that receives selection of a plurality of medical images stored on the medium, and a management file that manages the selected plurality of medical images are created. A management file creation unit, a regularity extraction unit that extracts regularity from the management file, and a compression unit that compresses and stores the management file on a medium based on the regularity.

Description

  The present invention relates to a medical image management apparatus and a medical image management method for displaying a medical image acquired from a medical image diagnostic apparatus including an X-ray imaging apparatus, an X-ray CT apparatus, an MRI apparatus, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and a nuclear medicine diagnostic apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to a technique for displaying a list of medical images stored on an external removable medium such as a CD or DVD at high speed.

  Medical images acquired from medical diagnostic imaging equipment including X-ray imaging equipment, X-ray CT equipment, MRI equipment, ultrasound diagnostic equipment, nuclear medicine diagnostic equipment are external removable media such as CDs and DVDs (hereinafter referred to as media) ) In DICOM (Digital Image Communication in Medicine) format. Medical images stored on the medium are managed by a DICOMDIR file. The DICOMDIR file is a file for managing medical images in a hierarchical structure classified into patient units, examination units, and the like, and is stored on the medium together with the medical images.

  On the other hand, with the development of medical image diagnostic apparatuses, in particular, the increase in the number of multi-slice CT apparatuses, the number of medical images has become enormous, and the size of the DICOMDIR file, which is a file for managing medical images, has also increased. When the DICOMDIR file size increases, it takes time to read and write data in the medium.

  In Patent Document 1, in order to eliminate the delay in responsiveness in reading and writing data in the medium, the storage area in the medium is divided into a plurality of storage sections, and each medical image is stored in each storage section according to a predetermined rule. It is disclosed that a DICOMDIR file, which is management information, is created for each storage section based on assigned medical images. Since a DICOMDIR file is created for each storage partition, the size of the DICOMDIR file is reduced in storage partition units, and the delay in responsiveness can be eliminated.

JP 2011-128716

  However, in Patent Document 1, the size of the DICOMDIR file in the medium does not change although the size of the DICOMDIR file is smaller in the divided storage partition units. However, it is not always possible to eliminate the delay.

  Therefore, the present invention manages medical images stored on a medium, reduces the total size of the DICOMDIR file, which is a management file stored on the medium together with the medical images, and improves responsiveness in reading and writing data on the medium. It is an object to provide a medical image management apparatus and a medical image management method.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention extracts a regularity from a management file of a medical image group stored in a medium, and compresses the management file based on the extracted regularity and stores it in the medium. An apparatus and a medical image management method.

  Specifically, a medium input / output unit that stores medical images on a medium, a selection unit that receives selection of a plurality of medical images stored on the medium, and a management file that manages the selected plurality of medical images are created. A management file creation unit, a regularity extraction unit that extracts regularity from the management file, and a compression unit that compresses the management file based on the regularity.

  A selection step for accepting selection of a plurality of medical images stored in the medium; a management file creation step for creating a management file for managing the selected plurality of medical images; and a rule for extracting regularity from the management file And a compression step of compressing the management file based on the regularity.

  According to the present invention, medical images stored on a medium are managed, and the total size of the DICOMDIR file, which is a management file stored on the medium together with the medical images, is reduced to improve responsiveness in reading and writing data on the medium. A medical image management apparatus and a medical image management method can be provided.

The figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the medical image management apparatus of this invention Diagram showing an example of the data structure stored in DICOM format on the medium The figure which shows the structure of the principal part of 1st embodiment. The figure which shows the flow of the medium preservation | save process of 1st embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the flow of a process of step 304 The figure which shows the other example of the flow of a process of step 304 The figure which shows the example of the list of medical images Diagram showing an example of regularity recording Figure showing an example of the structure of a compressed DICOMDIR file The figure which shows the flow of the medium reading process of 1st embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the list | wrist of the image preserve | saved at the medium The figure which shows the structure of the principal part of 2nd embodiment. The figure which shows the flow of the medium preservation | save process of 2nd embodiment. The figure which shows the arrangement of the image before rearranging The figure which shows the arrangement of the image after rearranging The figure which shows the flow of the medium reading process of 2nd embodiment.

  A preferred embodiment of a medical image management apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description and the accompanying drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the constituent elements having the same functional configuration, and redundant description will be omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the medical image management apparatus 1. As shown in FIG. The medical image management device 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 2, a main memory 3, a storage device 4, a display memory 5, a display device 6, a controller 7 connected to a mouse 8, a keyboard 9, a network adapter 10, and medium input / output The unit 15 is configured to be connected to the system bus 11 so that signals can be transmitted and received. The medical image management apparatus 1 is connected to a medical image photographing apparatus 13 and a medical image database 14 through a network 12 so as to be able to send and receive signals. Here, “to enable signal transmission / reception” indicates a state in which signals can be transmitted / received to each other or from one to the other, regardless of whether they are electrically or optically wired or wireless.

  The CPU 2 is a device that controls the operation of each component. The CPU 2 loads a program stored in the storage device 4 and data necessary for program execution into the main memory 3 and executes it. The storage device 4 is a device that stores medical images taken by the medical image photographing device 13, and is specifically a hard disk or the like. The medical image is acquired from the medical image photographing device 13 or the medical image database 14 via a network 12 such as a LAN (Local Area Network). The storage device 4 stores a program executed by the CPU 2 and data necessary for program execution. The main memory 3 stores programs executed by the CPU 2 and the progress of arithmetic processing.

  The display memory 5 temporarily stores display data to be displayed on the display device 6 such as a liquid crystal display or a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube). The mouse 8 and the keyboard 9 are operation devices for an operator to give an operation instruction to the medical image management apparatus 1. The mouse 8 may be another pointing device such as a trackpad or a trackball. The controller 7 detects the state of the mouse 8, acquires the position of the mouse pointer on the display device 6, and outputs the acquired position information and the like to the CPU 2. The network adapter 10 is for connecting the medical image management apparatus 1 to a network 12 such as a LAN, a telephone line, or the Internet.

  The medical image photographing device 13 is a device that acquires a medical image such as a tomographic image of a subject. The medical imaging apparatus 13 is, for example, an MRI apparatus, an X-ray CT apparatus, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, a scintillation camera apparatus, a PET apparatus, a SPECT apparatus, or the like. The medical image database 14 is a database system that stores medical images photographed by the medical image photographing device 13.

  The medium input / output unit 15 is a device that stores data in the medium and reads data from the medium. Here, the medium refers to a removable medium including a CD (Compact Disc), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, a USB-HDD (Universal Serial Bus-Hard Disk Drive), and the like.

  Next, the data structure when a medical image is stored in a DICOM format on a medium will be described with reference to FIG. When a medical image is stored on a medium in the DICOM format, a medical image file and a DICOMDIR file that manages the medical image file are stored on the medium. In addition to the medical image file and DICOMDIR file, a non-DICOM file that is not in DICOM format may be stored on the medium. A medical image file is a collection of pixel data of an image. As shown in FIG. 2, the DICOMDIR file has a hierarchical structure including a patient DR (Directory Record), a study DR, a series DR, and an image DR, and is also used as an index of a simple database.

  The following data is described in each DR in the DICOMDIR file. Patient information such as patient name, patient ID, date of birth, and sex is described in the patient DR. The study DR describes inspection information such as an inspection date and an inspection time. The series DR describes the modality such as CT and MR, the manufacturer of the modality, and the series information such as the relationship between images. The image DR describes image information such as an image collection time, an image number, the number of pixels (vertical and horizontal), an image gradation (number of bits per pixel), and an address to a medical image file.

  As described above, various data are described in the DICOMDIR file. As the number of medical images increases, the total size of the DICOMDIR file increases. When the total size of the DICOMDIR file increases, the responsiveness in reading and writing data on the medium is reduced. Therefore, in the following embodiment, the total size of the DICOMDIR file is reduced, and the responsiveness in reading and writing data on the medium is improved.

[First embodiment]
The main part of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The present embodiment includes a selection unit 201, a management file creation unit 202, a regularity extraction unit 203, a management file compression unit 204, a compressed file decompression unit 205, and a list creation unit 206. Each of the units 201 to 206 may be configured by dedicated hardware, or may be configured by the CPU 2 executing a processing flow described later. When each unit 201 to 206 is configured by dedicated hardware, it is connected to the CPU 2 via the system bus 11.

  The selection unit 201 executes a process of selecting a medical image to be stored on a medium from among a plurality of medical images stored in the storage device 4, the medical image photographing device 13, or the medical image database 14. For example, a list of a plurality of medical images stored in the storage device 4 is displayed on the display device 6, and a medical image selected by the operator using the mouse 8 or the keyboard 9 from the displayed list is selected. 201 accepts.

  The management file creation unit 202 creates a DICOMDIR file for managing medical images received by the selection unit 201 as a management file. The DICOMDIR file, which is a management file, is created according to the DICOM standard.

  The regularity extraction unit 203 analyzes each DR of the management file created by the management file creation unit 202, and extracts regularity from the sequence. For example, when attention is paid to the slice position as numerical data in the series DR, the image position at the beginning of the image list is used as a reference value, and the image position following the beginning may be an image position obtained by sequentially adding a certain value. In such a case, the regularity that a constant value is added to the image position of the previous image is extracted. In addition, when performing the follow-up diagnosis on the same patient, the patient information of all the images is the same, so that the regularity that all the character data of the patient DR is the same is extracted.

  The management file compression unit 204 compresses the management file based on the regularity extracted by the regularity extraction unit 203 to create a compressed file. The compressed file has a smaller total size than the management file. The compressed file created by the management file compression unit 204 is transmitted to the medium input / output unit 15 together with the medical image file and stored in the medium.

  The compressed file decompression unit 205 reads the compressed file created by the management file compression unit 204 and stored on the medium, and decompresses the compressed file based on the regularity extracted by the regularity extraction unit 203 to extract the management file. create. For example, in the case of a compressed file in which regularity is described that a constant value is added to the image position of the previous image, the image position of each image is obtained by sequentially adding the constant value to the image position of the previous image. As a result, a management file is created.

  The list creation unit 206 creates a list of medical images stored on the medium using the management file created by the compressed file decompression unit 205 and causes the display device 6 to display the created list.

  With reference to FIG. 4, the flow of medium storage processing executed by the medical image management apparatus 1 having the above configuration will be described.

(Step 301)
The CPU 2 reads a plurality of medical images stored in the storage device 4 and causes the display device 6 to display a list of the read medical images. FIG. 7 shows an example of a list of medical images. In the list of FIG. 7, the patient ID, patient name, examination date, modality, tomographic slice position, and image number are the display items, but the display items are not limited to these. The medical images displayed as a list are not limited to being read from the storage device 4, but may be read from the medical image photographing device 13 or the medical image database 14 via the network 12.

(Step 302)
The selection unit 201 receives a medical image selected from the list as illustrated in FIG. In FIG. 7, the row of the selected image is colored and the characters are shown as white characters. That is, two medical images having a patient ID of nnn2, a patient name of bbbb, an examination date of xx / xx, slice positions of s01 and s02, and image numbers of img3 and img4 are selected. The selection of the medical image may be performed by the operator specifying on the list using the mouse 8, the keyboard 9, or the like, or may be performed by extracting according to the specified search condition. When the medical image extracted according to the search condition is stored in the medium, the process of step 301 does not have to be executed.

(Step 303)
Based on the medical images received by the selection unit 201, the management file creation unit 202 creates a DICOMDIR file that manages these medical images as a management file. The DICOMDIR file, which is a management file, is created according to the DICOM standard.

(Step 304)
The regularity extraction unit 203 extracts regularity from the management file, and the management file compression unit 204 creates a compressed file by compressing the management file based on the extracted regularity. The compressed file has a smaller total size than the management file. An example of the detailed contents of this step will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, the processing flow of FIG. 5 will be described.

(Step 401)
The regularity extraction unit 203 extracts numerical data from the DICOMDIR file, which is a medical image management file. For example, the slice position is extracted as numerical data in the series DR.

(Step 402)
The regularity extraction unit 203 sets a reference value and sequentially calculates a difference from the previous data based on the sequence of the extracted numerical data. For example, when the extracted numerical data is the slice position, the slice position of the first image (that is, the first image) in the medical image received by the selection unit is set as the reference value. Also, the difference between the slice position of the next image after the first image (that is, the second image) and the slice position of the first image (first image), the slice position of the third image and the slice position of the second image The difference from the previous data is sequentially calculated as follows.

(Step 403)
The regularity extraction unit 203 extracts between images having the same difference value. In addition, when images with different difference values are extracted, the numerical data of one of the extracted images is set as a new reference value, and the previous data is set based on the sequence of the subsequent numerical data. Differences are calculated sequentially.

  By executing step 402 and step 403 in this way, regularity that a constant value is continuously added to the reference value in a certain range of image arrangement is extracted. The regularity extracted in this way is recorded in a table format as shown in FIG. 8, for example. In “Regularity 1” in FIG. 8, the first slice position is the reference value 1, the next slice position is the reference value 1 + difference value 1, and the next slice position is the reference value 1 + 2 * difference value 1 It has been recorded that. When the slice positions are all the same in a certain range of image arrangement, the difference value is recorded as zero.

  The regularity as shown in FIG. 8 is recorded in an appropriate DR in the DICOMDIR file as shown in FIG. 9, for example. The DICOMDIR file in FIG. 9 shows that regularity 1 is recorded in series 1 and regularity 2 is recorded in series 2. That is, the first slice position of the images in series 1 is the reference value 1, the subsequent slice positions are values obtained by sequentially adding the difference value 1, and the images in series 2 have the first slice position The reference value is 2, and the subsequent slice positions are values obtained by sequentially adding the difference value 2.

  By creating a DICOMDIR file as shown in Fig. 9, the slice position that was previously recorded in the series DR of all images is partially unnecessary in the range where the difference value is equal. DICOMDIR file size can be reduced. That is, the management file compression unit 204 compresses the DICOMDIR file created by the management file creation unit 202, and a compressed file is created.

  Next, the processing flow of FIG. 6 will be described.

(Step 411)
The regularity extraction unit 203 extracts character data from the DICOMDIR file, which is a medical image management file. For example, the patient name is extracted as character data in the patient DR.

(Step 412)
The regularity extraction unit 203 sets reference data and extracts data equal to the previous data based on the sequence of the extracted character data. For example, when the extracted character data is a patient name, it is determined whether or not a different patient name appears in the sequence of medical images received by the selection unit.

(Step 413)
When data different from the previous data is extracted, the regularity extraction unit 203 sets the extracted different data as new reference data, and extracts data equal to the previous data based on the subsequent character data sequence.

  By executing step 412 and step 413 in this way, the regularity that images having data equal to the reference data are arranged in a certain range of image arrangement is extracted. The regularity extracted in this way is recorded as “regularity 3” in FIG. 8, for example. That is, in “regularity 3”, it is recorded that images whose patient name is the reference character string 3 are continuous.

  Even in the case of character data, the extracted regularity is recorded in an appropriate DR in the DICOMDIR file, thereby reducing the size of the DICOMDIR file. That is, the management file compression unit 204 compresses the DICOMDIR file created by the management file creation unit 202, and a compressed file is created.

(Step 305)
The medium input / output unit 15 stores the compressed file created by the management file compression unit 204 together with the medical image file received by the selection unit 201 on the medium.

  When the medical image management apparatus 1 executes the above processing flow, the total size of the DICOMDIR file, which is a management file for managing medical images stored on the medium, can be reduced. As a result, it is possible to provide a medical image management apparatus and a medical image management method that improve responsiveness in data writing to a medium.

  Next, the flow of medium reading processing for reading a medical image recorded on a medium from a compressed file recorded on the medium will be described with reference to FIG.

(Step 306)
The compressed file decompression unit 205 reads the compressed file stored on the medium and decompresses the compressed file. By decompressing the compressed file, the same management file as the management file created by the management file creation unit 202 is created. The regularity extracted by the regularity extraction unit 203 is used for decompressing the compressed file. For example, in the case of “regularity 1” in FIG. 8, the slice position of the first image is set to the reference value 1, and the slice position of each image following the head image is set to the value obtained by sequentially adding the difference value 1 to the reference value 1. .

(Step 307)
The list creation unit 206 creates a list of medical images stored on the medium using the management file created by the compressed file decompression unit 205 and causes the display device 6 to display the created list. FIG. 11 shows an example of a list displayed on the display device 6. The list in FIG. 11 is a case where the image of the row colored in FIG. 7 is stored on the medium.

  Since the medical image management apparatus 1 executes the above processing flow, the file read from the medium is a compressed file having a size smaller than that of the management file. Therefore, the medical image management improves the responsiveness in reading data from the medium. An apparatus and a medical image management method can be provided.

[Second Embodiment]
The second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that the same configurations as those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof is omitted to avoid duplication of description. In the present embodiment, the regularity extraction unit 203 efficiently extracts regularity by rearranging the data before extracting the regularity from the data arrangement. Hereinafter, a configuration different from the first embodiment will be mainly described.

  The main part of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The present embodiment further includes a rearrangement unit 210 and a rearrangement unit 211 as compared with the first embodiment. The units 201 to 206 other than the rearrangement unit 210 and the rearrangement unit 211 are substantially the same as those in the first embodiment. The rearrangement unit 210 and the rearrangement unit 211 may be configured by dedicated hardware, or may be configured by the CPU 2 executing a processing flow to be described later. When the rearrangement unit 210 and the rearrangement unit 211 are configured by dedicated hardware, they are connected to the CPU 2 via the system bus 11. Hereinafter, the rearrangement unit 210, the regularity extraction unit 203, the rearrangement unit 211, and the list creation unit 206 will be described.

  The rearrangement unit 210 rearranges the arrangement in the management file according to at least one DR of the management file created by the management file creation unit 202. Sorting may be in ascending or descending order. In addition, after rearrangement, a number before rearrangement may be assigned so that the state before rearrangement can be restored.

  The regularity extraction unit 203 analyzes each DR of the management file that has been rearranged by the rearrangement unit 210, and extracts regularity from the arrangement.

  The rearrangement unit 211 performs rearrangement based on the arrangement in the management file rearranged by the rearrangement unit 210. For the rearrangement, the numbers before rearrangement given by the rearrangement unit 210 may be referred to, or rearrangement may be performed by other methods.

  The list creation unit 206 creates a list of medical images stored in the medium using the management file rearranged by the rearrangement unit 211 and causes the display device 6 to display the created list.

  A flow of the medium storing process executed by the medical image management apparatus 1 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. Note that description of steps for executing the same processing as in the first embodiment is omitted.

(Steps 301-303)
As in the first embodiment, a DICOMDIR file that manages the selected medical image is created as a management file.

(Step 310)
The rearrangement unit 210 rearranges the management file created by the management file creation unit 202 according to the value of a certain data item. Sorting may be in ascending or descending order. An example of the rearrangement process will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 14 shows the arrangement of images before rearrangement, and FIG. 15 shows the arrangement of images after rearrangement. In the image arrangement of FIG. 14, the patient ID, the examination date, and the modality are all the same, and the slice position and the image address are different for each image. Further, the difference values of the slice positions between images are 4, -2, and 4, which are not constant values. If an attempt is made to compress the management file by extracting the regularity in this arrangement, recording relating to the slice position cannot be omitted in the image arrangement range shown in FIG. 14, and as a result, the management file cannot be compressed.

  Therefore, when rearrangement is performed so that the slice position values are in ascending order, the difference values of the slice positions between the images become 2, 2, and 2 and can be expressed as constant values. In other words, by rearranging the arrangement in the management file that could not be compressed, it becomes possible to make it in a compressible state. Note that the rearrangement process may be further executed according to the difference value between the images in the rearrangement process.

  In addition, by assigning a pre-sort number to the pre-sort order, for example, after performing the sort process according to the slice position value, by referring to the pre-sort number, Can be returned.

(Step 304)
The regularity extraction unit 203 extracts regularity from the sorted management file, and the management file compression unit 204 creates a compressed file by compressing the sorted management file based on the extracted regularity To do. The processing flow for creating a compressed file is the same as in the first embodiment.

(Step 305)
Similar to the first embodiment, the compressed file is stored in the medium.

  When the medical image management apparatus 1 executes the above processing flow, even a management file that could not be compressed can be compressed.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 16, the flow of a medium reading process for reading a medical image recorded on a medium from a compressed file recorded on the medium by the process flow of FIG. Note that description of steps for executing the same processing as in the first embodiment is omitted.

(Step 306)
Similar to the first embodiment, the compressed file is read and decompressed.

(Step 311)
The rearrangement unit 311 rearranges the decompressed compressed file, that is, the rearranged management file. In the rearrangement process, for example, the pre-sorting numbers shown in FIGS. 14 and 15 may be used to rearrange the images so that the pre-sorting numbers are in ascending order.

(Step 307)
The list creation unit 206 creates a list of medical images stored in the medium using the management file rearranged by the rearrangement unit 311, that is, the management file created by the management file creation unit 202, and displays the list 6 is displayed.

  Since the medical image management apparatus 1 executes the above processing flow, the file read from the medium is a compressed file having a size smaller than that of the management file. Therefore, the medical image management improves the responsiveness in reading data from the medium. An apparatus and a medical image management method can be provided.

  The medical image management apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the gist of the invention. Moreover, you may combine suitably the some component currently disclosed by the said embodiment. Furthermore, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the above embodiment.

  1 Medical image management device, 2 CPU, 3 Main memory, 4 Storage device, 5 Display memory, 6 Display device, 7 Controller, 8 Mouse, 9 Keyboard, 10 Network adapter, 11 System bus, 12 Network, 13 Medical imaging device , 14 Medical image database, 201 selection unit, 202 management file creation unit, 203 regularity extraction unit, 204 management file compression unit, 205 compressed file decompression unit, 206 list creation unit, 210 rearrangement unit, 211 rearrangement unit

Claims (9)

A selection unit that accepts selection of a plurality of medical images stored in the medium;
A management file creation unit for creating a management file for managing a plurality of selected medical images;
A regularity extraction unit for extracting regularity from the management file;
A compression unit that compresses the management file based on the regularity and stores the compressed file in the medium;
A medical image management apparatus comprising: In the medical image management apparatus according to claim 1,
A sorting unit that sorts the data of the management file according to an item in the management file;
The medical image management apparatus, wherein the regularity extraction unit extracts regularity from a management file in which data is rearranged. In the medical image management apparatus according to claim 2,
The medical image management apparatus further comprising a rearrangement unit that rearranges the data of the management file whose data is rearranged by the rearrangement unit. In the medical image management apparatus according to claim 3,
The sorting unit assigns a pre-sorting number indicating the order of data in the management file before the data is sorted,
The medical image management apparatus, wherein the rearranging unit rearranges the data of the management file in which the data is rearranged based on the pre-sorting number. In the medical image management apparatus according to claim 2,
The medical image management apparatus, wherein the rearranger further rearranges the data of the management file in which the data is rearranged. In the medical image management apparatus according to claim 1,
The regularity extraction unit includes:
Extract numerical data from the management file,
A reference value is set from the list of numerical data, and a difference value from the previous data is calculated.
The medical image management apparatus, wherein the reference value and the difference value are recorded as the regularity. In the medical image management apparatus according to claim 1,
The regularity extraction unit includes:
Extract character data from the management file,
Extract a data range in which data equal to the previous data is arranged from the character data arrangement,
Set the top data of the extracted data range as reference data,
The medical image management apparatus, wherein the regularity data is recorded as the reference data and data equal to the previous data. In the medical image management apparatus according to claim 1,
A medical image management apparatus, further comprising: a decompression unit that decompresses the management file compressed by the compression unit based on the regularity. A selection step for accepting selection of a plurality of medical images stored in the medium;
A management file creation step for creating a management file for managing a plurality of selected medical images;
A regularity extraction step for extracting regularity from the management file;
A compressing step of compressing and storing the management file on the medium based on the regularity;
A medical image management method comprising:

Images