KR20200136305A - Method for explaining pathological report of cancer - Google Patents

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present invention, provided is a method for explaining a cancer pathology record, which comprises the steps of: receiving pathology record image data from a terminal of a cancer patient; converting the image data into text, and extracting a preset variable and a value of the variable from the text; and transmitting description data for the variable and the value to the terminal. The anxiety of cancer patients is reduced, and information provision is improved.

Description

How to explain cancer pathology records {METHOD FOR EXPLAINING PATHOLOGICAL REPORT OF CANCER}

The present invention relates to a method for explaining cancer pathology records.

Cancer pathology record refers to a recording sheet that describes the type of sample, the tissue collection site, and subtype data obtained by examining a sample such as cancer tissue or cancer cells with the naked eye or a microscope. Cancer pathology records are of high importance as data that finally determine the condition of a patient's disease and become the basis for diagnosis/treatment.

On the other hand, cancer patients have a great desire to check their current/future medical condition, such as stage, survival rate, and treatment policy. Accordingly, more and more cancer patients are receiving and checking their medical records, especially pathology records (biopsy records), in order to relieve anxiety about diseases.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2013-0048597: Method and apparatus for expressing medical test data analysis results

Many cancer patients want to know their disease status by getting their pathology records issued, but it is difficult for patients to know their condition easily because the pathology records are written in technical terms in English. Accordingly, many patients take photos of their pathology and upload them to the cancer patient community, seeking interpretations from other patients.

A method for explaining a cancer pathology record according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of: receiving pathology record image data from a terminal of a cancer patient; Converting the image data to text, and extracting a preset variable and a value of the variable from the text; And transmitting description data for the variable and the value to the terminal.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the pathology record image data transmitted by a cancer patient is converted into text, and explanatory data is provided according to the variables and values extracted therefrom, and the meaning of each variable in the pathology record Personalized information about cancer can be provided to patients who are curious about their condition. Accordingly, anxiety of cancer patients is alleviated and information provision is improved.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the pathology record transmitted by the patient is not directly described in the image data, but the treatment guideline/prescription guideline that can be inferred from the molecular genetic subtype is provided to the terminal of the cancer patient. By sending, the patient's anxiety about future treatment plans can be reduced.

1 is a diagram showing a system for implementing a method for explaining cancer pathology records according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a flow chart showing a comprehensive process of a method for explaining a cancer pathology record according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is an exemplary image of a pathology record.
4 is an exemplary image of explanatory data.

Advantages and features of the present invention, 　, and a method of achieving them will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described later in detail together with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but may be implemented in various forms, 　 only these embodiments make the disclosure of the present invention complete, and 　 those having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains. It is provided to fully inform the person of the scope of the invention, and the scope of the invention is only defined by the claims.

In describing the embodiments of the present invention, detailed descriptions of known functions or configurations will be omitted except when actually necessary in describing the embodiments of the present invention. In addition, terms to be described later are terms defined in consideration of functions in an embodiment of the present invention, which may vary according to the intention or custom of users or operators. Therefore, the definition should be made based on the contents throughout this specification.

The functional blocks shown in the drawings and described below are only examples of possible implementations. In other implementations, other functional blocks may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the detailed description. Also, although one or more functional blocks of the present invention are represented as individual blocks, one or more of the functional blocks of the present invention may be a combination of various hardware and software configurations that perform the same function.

In addition, the expression of including certain constituent elements is an open expression and simply refers to the existence of the constituent elements and should not be understood as excluding additional constituent elements.

Further, when a component is connected to or is referred to as being connected to another component, it should be understood that it may be directly connected or connected to the other component, but other components may exist in the middle.

In addition, expressions such as'first, second', etc. are used only for distinguishing a plurality of elements, and do not limit the order or other features between the elements.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 is a diagram showing a system 1 for implementing a method for explaining a cancer pathology record according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a system 1 for performing a method for explaining a cancer pathology record according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a cancer patient terminal 10 and a device 100 for explaining a cancer pathology record.

The cancer patient terminal 10 is a terminal that can be used by a cancer patient or a guardian, and transmits the image data of the pathology record of the cancer patient to the clinical trial data to the cancer pathology record explanation apparatus 100.

The database 101 may include patient's disease information, tissue image information, gene information, pathology information, medication history information, side effects information, blood test information, hospital visit date, clinical trial data, and other various biomedical data of the patient. .

The cancer pathology record explanation apparatus 100 receives pathology record image data from the cancer patient terminal 10. The cancer pathology recording apparatus 100 converts image data transmitted by a patient into text, and extracts a preset variable and a value of the variable from the text. Thereafter, the cancer pathology recording apparatus 100 transmits explanatory data on the variable and the value to the terminal 10.

A method for explaining a cancer pathology record for realizing the system 1 for implementing the method for explaining cancer pathology according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

2 is a flow chart showing a comprehensive process of a method for explaining a cancer pathology record according to an embodiment of the present invention. Each step of the method for explaining cancer pathology according to FIG. 2 may be performed by the apparatus 100 for explaining cancer pathology. Each step performed by the cancer pathology recording apparatus 100 will be described as follows.

A method for explaining cancer pathology according to an embodiment includes receiving pathology image data from a terminal of a cancer patient (S100), converting the image data to text, and extracting values of preset variables (S200), And transmitting description data for the variable and the value to the terminal (S300).

First, a step (S100) of receiving pathology record image data from a terminal of a cancer patient is performed.

The pathology record refers to a record that analyzes the characteristics of a cancer tissue.

In the case of breast cancer patients, the information included in the pathologic record includes the size of the tumor, histological type and grade, resection margin status, surrounding blood vessel/lymphatic vessel involvement, and lymph node status (number of benign lymph nodes/number of resected lymph nodes). , Hormone receptor, and HER2 data.

In the case of colorectal cancer patients, the information included in the pathologic record includes the depth of infiltration and the presence of enlarged invasion to adjacent structures (stage T), the number of local lymph nodes examined, the number of benign local lymph nodes (stage N), and tumors at the proximal and distal margins. Presence/absence, distance of proximal, distal, and annular resection margins (for rectal cancer), or histologic type & grade data may be included.

In the case of gastric cancer patients, the information included in the pathologic record includes: 1) tissue type, 2) degree of differentiation (in case of Tubular or Papillary adenocarcinoma), 3) depth of infiltration, 4) vascular (lymphatic tube and blood vessel) in case of endoscopic submucosal resection (ESD). ) Invasion, 5) Presence of cancer cells on the resected surface (horizontal and vertical), 6) The size of the resected lesion can be included, and in the case of gastrectomy, 1) tissue morphology, 2) degree of differentiation (in the case of Tubular or Papillary adenocarcinoma), 3 It may include data on the presence of cancer cells in the proximal and distal resection surfaces, 4) depth of invasion or stage T, 5) the number of resected lymph nodes and the number of benign local lymph nodes or stage N, or 6) the presence of vessels surrounding the tumor.

In the case of lung cancer patients, the information included in the pathology record includes: 1) TN stage, tumor size, location, distance from resection margin, and pleural invasion 2) Lymph node status (number of positive lymph nodes/number of resected lymph nodes) ), 3) presence of tumors in margins, 4) involvement of blood vessels/nerves/lymphatic ducts around the tumor, 5) histological type, 6) other pulmonary abnormalities such as interstitial fibrosis and pulmonary tuberculosis. can do.

The information included in the above-described cancer types and pathology records is only exemplary, and does not limit the present invention.

Pathology recording image data refers to an image obtained by photographing or scanning a pathology recording sheet through a camera.

The cancer patient can take a picture after receiving the pathology record in the form of paper through his or her terminal 10. Thereafter, the cancer patient transmits the pathology record image data to the cancer pathology record explanation apparatus 100 through the terminal.

Thereafter, the image data is converted to text, and a step (S200) of extracting a value of a preset variable from the converted text is performed. Since image data cannot be utilized as an unstructured'image' by itself, meaningful information can be extracted only by reading text from the image data. In an embodiment of the present invention, information described in image data is converted into text data using an optical character recognition (OCR) technology, and then a value of a preset variable is extracted from the converted text.

According to an embodiment, the preset variable may be a molecular genetic subtype of cancer.

3 is an exemplary image of a pathology record. In the original image, the part with the possibility of identifying the patient was grayed out.

Referring to part A of FIG. 3, the results of immunostaining chemistry of breast cancer patients are described, and in particular, values of ER, PR, and HER2, which are molecular genetic subtype variables of breast cancer tissue, are shown.

According to an embodiment, the preset variable may be ER, PR or Her2 of breast cancer. The'value' of each variable (ER, PR, or Her2) may be positive/negative or a score.

Particularly in breast cancer, data on ER, PR, and Her2, which are molecular genetic variables in the pathologic record, are important data that play a decisive role in determining the future treatment policy.

<Table 1> below shows the data obtained by converting the image data of FIG. 3 into text using optical character recognition (OCR) technology, and the results of extracting required molecular genetic variables and values. Among the OCR text data, the part with the possibility of personal identification is marked with an X.

OCR data LlI'sr:ozen): 1.). 1110. I IMIefo. MMacro) Extranodal extension: No
Related slides: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
DIAGNOSIS:
Breast, female, right, breast conserving surgery, Invasive carcinoma, no special type (status post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy) Pathologic stage(AJCC 8th): yPT2N1a
NOTE: Residual cancer burden (1) primary tumor bed 31 mm x 15 mm (2) overall cancer cellularity 20% (3) Percentage of cancer that is in situ disease: 30 (4) number of positive lymph nodes: 1 diameter of largest metastasis: 3 (5) residual cancer burden: 2.991 (6) residual cancer burden class: RCB-11
3111132232: XXXXXXXX (Addendum Report)
<Immunohistochemical result of invasive carcinoma> (status post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy)
Items I Result
ER I Positive (90%) , AS8(5+3) PR I Positive (5%), AS4(2+2) HER-2 I Negative (0) Ki -67 LI I Negative (1.99%)
Criteria for interpretation Estrogen (SP1, Ventana) and progesterone receptor (1E2, Ventana) interpretation, A positive result for both ER and PR is defined when at least 1% tumor cells are positive
: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX ,arch Date 01 .Y.21,121 Ulge he contents of this report is same with those of the original 21-?-21g,01t- 2,5:131.1,-10g. g9J9J-g rg`e ocapa612...208. 8. 7 his is an electronically authorized official medical record,,,,, XXXXXXXXXXXX URA! bR 170 V, IC116,407,Tor,
err Molecular genetic variables and values ER: positive
PR: positive
Her2: negative

At this time, for the extraction of keywords of ER, PR, and Her2, a bunch of similar words considering the accuracy of OCR reading (e.g., Estrogen Receptor, Estr0gen Receptor, similar words of ER; Hsr2, HerZ, etc. as similar words of Her2) were used, and ER, PR, Her2 bunch ER, PR, and Her2 were given positive/negative or not by comparing the text distance of the bundle of similar words of positive and negative. According to one embodiment, whether ER, PR, and Her2 are positive/negative Accordingly, the patient's molecular genetic subtype can be classified into 4 types. Table 2 below is an example of the pathological subtypes of breast cancer patients.

Subtype 1 ER, PR one or more positive Her2 negative Subtype 2 ER, PR one or more positive Her2 positive Subtype 3 Both ER and PR are negative Her2 negative Subtype 4 Both ER and PR are negative Her2 positive

According to the above subtype classification, the patient of FIG. 2 belongs to the first subtype in which both ER and PR are positive. Meanwhile, subtype 1/subtype 2/subtype 3 in which at least one ER and PR are positive are classified as ``hormone receptor positive.'' Thereafter, explanatory data about variables and values is transferred to the terminal 10. The transmitting step (S300) is performed. 'Descriptive data' refers to the data obtained by interpreting/interpreting the variable and the value of the variable recorded in the pathology record. The description data may be text, images, videos, and/or combinations thereof.

4 is an exemplary image of explanatory data. 4 is an image explaining what the'value' ='positive' for'variable' ='hormone receptor' when at least one of ER and PR is positive. The cancer pathology recording apparatus 100 may transmit such image data to a breast cancer patient who is positive for hormone receptors.

If the value of the variable extracted from the pathology record image data received from the terminal 10 is'ER','negative','PR', or'negative', the cancer pathology recording apparatus 100 is'hormone receptor negative'. Descriptive data on'(negative)' can be transmitted to the terminal.

If the value of the variable extracted from the pathology record image data received from the terminal is'Her2' or'positive', the cancer pathology record commentary apparatus 100 may transmit explanatory data on'Her2 positive' to the terminal. .

If the value of the variable extracted from the pathology recording image data received from the terminal is'Her2' or'negative', the cancer pathology recording commentary device 100 may transmit explanatory data on'Her2 voice' to the terminal. .

In the case of providing explanatory data in accordance with the pathology image data transmitted by the cancer patient, individuals who are curious about what each variable in the pathology record means and their condition are not'general' information about cancer. Customized information can be provided. Accordingly, anxiety of cancer patients is alleviated and information provision is improved.

According to an embodiment, the description data may include treatment guideline data according to a molecular genetic subtype.

In the case of cancer, in most cases, the treatment method varies depending on the molecular genetic subtype of the cancer tissue. In one embodiment of the present invention, the pathology record transmitted by the cancer patient is not directly described, but the treatment guideline/prescription guideline that can be inferred from the molecular genetic subtype is transmitted to the terminal 10 of the cancer patient and the patient Alleviate the anxiety about future treatment options.

The treatment guideline data may include the name of the expected prescription drug, pharmacological mechanism, or side effect data, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, in the case of breast cancer, ER and PR positive patients generally take'tamoxifen', which works competitively with female hormones. At this time, according to an embodiment, if the molecular genetic variables and values extracted from the image data obtained from the terminal are'ER','positive','PR', or'positive', the explanatory data includes information on the therapeutic agent'tamoxifen'. Can include.

On the other hand, in the case of breast cancer, Her2-positive patients are generally injected with Herceptin, a target therapy. In this case, according to an embodiment, when the molecular genetic variables and values extracted from the image data obtained from the terminal are'Her2' and'positive', the description data may include information on the target treatment,'Herceptin'.

In this way, if treatment guideline data is provided according to the pathological record image data transmitted by a cancer patient, personalized information rather than'general' information about the treatment method can be provided to patients who are curious about why they are receiving such treatment. Accordingly, anxiety of cancer patients is alleviated and information provision is improved.

According to an embodiment, the step of transmitting the description data to the terminal (S300) may be a step of periodically transmitting the description data according to a preset period. Such a period may be 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, etc., but the present invention is not limited thereto.

The method for explaining cancer pathology recording according to an embodiment may further include transmitting the description data to the terminal 10 and then transmitting whether or not the description data is viewed from the terminal 10.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the cancer pathology record commentary device 100 may be used in a clinical trial. During clinical trials, the cancer pathology record commentary device 100 periodically transmits explanatory data to the terminal, and tracks whether the cancer patient survives by receiving a log of whether the cancer patient reads it through the terminal 10. You can (follow-up).

In particular, with regard to cancer, in clinical trials/clinical studies, it is often necessary to determine the overall survival from onset to death, so it is very important to know whether a patient is alive at a specific time point. Currently, it is common for researchers to track survival by calling patients directly.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to easily determine whether or not to survive through the data transmission/reception history with the terminal 10, which can be known as the'cancer patient', through the reception of pathology record image data. For example, in one embodiment, when receiving a record indicating that the terminal has read the description data, the cancer pathology recording apparatus 100 may determine that the user of the terminal 10 is currently in a'live state'. For example, in one embodiment, when the terminal does not receive a record indicating that the description data has been viewed, the cancer pathology recording apparatus 100 may determine whether the user of the terminal 10 survives is'unknown', and the most recent You can calculate how much time has passed since you knew you were alive.

According to an embodiment, the cancer pathology record commentary device 100 records the pathology record image data, data obtained by converting the image data into text, and the extracted data and/or a hash thereof on a blockchain and transparently manages it. can do.

Meanwhile, the information to be recorded in the block may be information including digital identification information and medical data of a cancer patient, but the information to be recorded on the block chain and information to be stored in the server may be separately designed according to the administrator's choice. .

Meanwhile, the apparatus 100 for explaining cancer pathology recording according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a receiving unit, an extracting unit, and a transmitting unit.

The receiving unit receives pathological record image data from the terminal of the cancer patient. The extraction unit converts the image data to text and extracts a value of a preset variable. The transmission unit transmits the explanatory data on the variable and the value to the first terminal.

A process for performing the corresponding operation of the components included in the apparatus 100 for explaining cancer pathology according to the above-described embodiment has been described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, and thus a duplicate description will be omitted.

Meanwhile, the receiving unit, the extracting unit, and the transmitting unit included in the above-described embodiment may be implemented by a memory including instructions programmed to perform their functions, and a computing device including a microprocessor that executes these instructions.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the pathology record image data transmitted by a cancer patient is converted into text, and explanatory data is provided according to the variables and values extracted therefrom, and the meaning of each variable in the pathology record Personalized information about cancer can be provided to patients who are curious about their condition. Accordingly, anxiety of cancer patients is alleviated and information provision is improved.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the pathology record transmitted by the patient is not directly described in the image data, but the treatment guideline/prescription guideline that can be inferred from the molecular genetic subtype is provided to the terminal of the cancer patient. By sending, the patient's anxiety about future treatment plans can be reduced.

The embodiments of the present invention described above can be implemented through various means. For example, embodiments of the present invention may be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof.

In the case of hardware implementation, the method according to embodiments of the present invention includes one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), and Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs). , Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, and the like.

In the case of implementation by firmware or software, the method according to the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in the form of a module, procedure, or function that performs the functions or operations described above. A computer program in which software codes and the like are recorded may be stored in a computer-readable recording medium or a memory unit and driven by a processor. The memory unit may be located inside or outside the processor, and may exchange data with the processor through various known means.

In addition, combinations of each block of the block diagram attached to the present invention and each step of the flowchart may be performed by computer program instructions. Since these computer program instructions can be mounted on the encoding processor of a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer or other programmable data processing equipment, the instructions executed by the encoding processor of the computer or other programmable data processing equipment are each block of the block diagram or Each step of the flow chart will create a means to perform the functions described. These computer program instructions can also be stored in computer-usable or computer-readable memory that can be directed to a computer or other programmable data processing equipment to implement a function in a particular way, so that the computer-usable or computer-readable memory It is also possible to produce an article of manufacture in which the instructions stored in the block diagram contain instruction means for performing the functions described in each block or flow chart. Computer program instructions can also be mounted on a computer or other programmable data processing equipment, so that a series of operating steps are performed on a computer or other programmable data processing equipment to create a computer-executable process to create a computer or other programmable data processing equipment. It is also possible for the instructions to perform the processing equipment to provide steps for performing the functions described in each block of the block diagram and each step of the flowchart.

In addition, each block or each step may represent a module, segment, or part of code including one or more executable instructions for executing a specified logical function. It should also be noted that in some alternative embodiments, the functions mentioned in blocks or steps may occur out of order. For example, two blocks or steps shown in succession may in fact be performed substantially simultaneously, or the blocks or steps may sometimes be performed in the reverse order depending on the corresponding function.

As such, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains will be able to understand that the present invention can be implemented in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features thereof. Therefore, the embodiments described above are illustrative in all respects and should be understood as non-limiting. The scope of the present invention is indicated by the claims to be described later rather than the detailed description, and all changes or modified forms derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalent concepts should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present invention. .

10: terminal
100: cancer pathology record explanation device
101: database

Claims (3)

Receiving pathological record image data from a terminal of a cancer patient;
Converting the image data to text, and extracting a preset variable and a value of the variable from the text;
Transmitting explanatory data on the variable and the value to the terminal; including, cancer pathology recording method.
The method of claim 1,
The variable is a molecular genetic subtype of cancer, a method of explaining cancer pathology.
The method of claim 1,
The description data includes treatment guideline data according to the molecular genetic subtype.

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