TWI547898B - Method for storing medical images and imaging system thereof - Google Patents

Description

Medical image storage method and storage system

The invention relates to a medical image storage method and a storage system, and is a smart medical image storage method and system capable of saving image storage space.

Medical imaging refers to biological imaging produced by medical-related instruments through medical behavior. Such images can be used to diagnose certain diseases, and can also provide medical research, including non-invasive means to the human body or Part of the technique of ingesting internal tissue images. For example, using ultrasonic scanning, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Computed Tomography (CT), mammography and X-ray photography Aim the resulting image.

The Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) is a computer system dedicated to processing, storing, printing, transmitting and displaying digital medical images. It follows DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine). , DICOM) International Standard for Medical Imaging.

For high quality and clarity, medical images used on PACS systems as a reference for diagnosis and treatment require a large storage space, such as medical image files produced by various contrast devices described above. At present, in addition to the compression technology that generally only saves limited space, The prior art does not propose other specific and effective storage solutions.

In order to provide a more efficient storage solution for medical images, embodiments of the present invention disclose a medical image storage method and a storage system for a medically interesting part to be completely stored, and the rest is stored in a compact manner. Because the original file is only stored for interested parts, in addition to effectively saving storage space, it also reduces invalid reading, browsing and processing operations, and can also use personal operation of inertial information for other personalized processing and application. . One of the ways to judge the parts that need to be completely stored is to distinguish those parts that are of interest based on the user's operation information.

According to an embodiment, the main steps of the medical image storage method capable of saving the image storage space include: first acquiring an original image generated by a contrast device, for example, scanning an image generated by the living body, and reconstructing a stereoscopic image of the living body from the original image. For the operator to preview, the system obtains the operation signal generated when the stereo image is previewed, to determine the key profile in one or more stereo images according to the operation signal, and distinguish the non-critical parts. The system then obtains image information that correlates these critical and non-critical sections.

Next, based on the range of the set critical profile and the range of the non-critical profile and associated storage strategies, the system will store the original image associated with one or more critical sections and store the image associated with one or more non-critical sections and processed.

Before the stereo image is reconstructed, the system can check whether the reconstructed image is misaligned according to the positioning image. For example, a cross-sectional image of one or more directions is taken from the original image taken by the living body for checking whether the reconstructed stereo image is misaligned.

In an embodiment of the medical image storage system, the system includes an image input module coupled to the at least one medical imaging device for capturing an original image of the living body from the medical imaging device; the system includes an original image storage module for storing The original image of the organism; the system includes an image reconstruction module that captures the original of the organism Reconstructing a stereoscopic image after the image; the system includes a preview module for providing an operation interface for previewing the stereoscopic image; the system includes an operation signal capture module for obtaining an operation signal generated when the operation module is used to preview the stereo image; a key profile recording module for determining a critical profile in one or more stereo images based on the operation signal, and obtaining one or more non-critical profiles after excluding the critical profile; the system includes a storage computing module, and is associated Image information of one or more critical sections and associated image information of one or more non-critical sections, resulting in an original image associated with one or more critical sections and associated one or more non-critical sections and processed images; The image output module outputs the original image associated with the key profile and the associated non-critical profile and the processed image is stored in the archive.

In one embodiment, the medical image storage system further includes a positioning image generating module and an inspection module for checking whether the reconstructed stereo image is misaligned.

In order to further understand the technology, method and function of the present invention in order to achieve the intended purpose, reference should be made to the detailed description and drawings of the present invention. Understand. The drawings and the annexed drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only

10‧‧‧Medical imaging equipment

12‧‧ Medical Image Storage System

14‧‧‧Archive

20‧‧‧ head

201‧‧‧ first section

203‧‧‧Second section

72‧‧‧ medical imaging equipment

70‧‧ Medical Image Storage System

701‧‧‧Image input module

702‧‧‧ Positioning Image Generation Module

703‧‧‧ original image storage module

704‧‧‧Check module

705‧‧‧Image Reconstruction Module

706‧‧‧ Preview Module

707‧‧‧Operation signal capture module

708‧‧‧Operating module

709‧‧‧Key Profile Recording Module

710‧‧‧Storage computing module

711‧‧‧Image output module

74‧‧‧Archive

a, b, c, d‧‧

b’, d’‧‧‧ segment image

Step S301~S319‧‧‧Process of medical image storage method

Steps S401~S419‧‧‧Steps for judging operational behavior

Steps S501~S505‧‧‧Steps for storing key profile image files

Steps S601~S607‧‧‧Steps for storing non-key profile image files

1 is a schematic diagram showing an application example of a radiology nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus and a medical image storage system of the present invention; FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are schematic diagrams of a stereoscopic image obtained by scanning a medical imaging apparatus; FIG. 3 is a schematic embodiment of a medical image storage method according to the present invention; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a step of determining an operation behavior in a medical image storage method according to the present invention; FIG. 5 is a step of storing a key profile image file in the medical image storage method of the present invention; 6 is a block diagram of a method for storing a non-key profile image file in the medical image storage method of the present invention; FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the medical image storage system of the present invention; Schematic diagram of the storage of non-critical sections.

Embodiments disclose a medical image storage method and a storage system. The related storage system can provide a solution for effectively storing medical images. The technical concept is to classify medical images as critical and complete storage portions, and the rest is Non-critical and streamlined storage portions, which can be stored in categories, can save storage space.

According to one embodiment, the medical image storage method and the storage system can be applied to a medical file storage requirement that generates a large number of files, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET). ), medical image files generated by devices such as Computed Tomography (CT), and the application of such medical images will not be described herein, but the embodiment described in FIG. 1 can be referred to.

Figure 1 illustrates an application embodiment of a radiology nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus and a medical image storage system of the present invention.

This figure shows that the medical imaging storage system 12 is connected to the medical imaging device 10 at one end, and does not exclude medical devices that can generate various image signals, such as nuclear magnetic resonance, positron tomography, and computed tomography, which generate larger and larger image files.

One end of the medical image storage system 12 is linked to an archive 14 which can be a general archive database or a medical image storage and transmission system (PACS) for storing and providing file access, for the purpose of storing medical image storage. The medical image files transmitted by the system 12 are stored according to the relevant patient and medical record index.

Medical images for medical personnel diagnosis for high quality and easy observation of details, Often stored in uncompressed raw data styles, however, such files are stored without being screened, often taking up a lot of storage space. The present invention proposes a medical image storage system 12, which first takes the original image directly from the medical imaging device 10, and then through the research and judgment of the critical section, proposes an effective storage space and a storage strategy for the diagnosis of medical personnel in the future.

When performing the medical image storage method described in the embodiment, the system first needs to obtain a longitudinal section of the scanned organism (the first section 201 shown in FIG. 2A) and a transverse section (the second section shown in FIG. 2A). 203) Two reconstructed image files are used as a reference for multi-planar Reconstruction (MPR) image localization.

For example, after the medical image storage system 12 ingests the original image of an organism, it is necessary to reconstruct a stereoscopic image of the organism for reference by medical personnel. The medical image storage system 12 proposed in the disclosure can obtain the positioning image for positioning from the original image, thereby checking whether the reconstructed image has a misalignment or other error. The embodiment shown in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram of a stereoscopic image obtained by scanning a medical imaging device, wherein the cross-sections in different directions are respectively indicated by broken lines.

2A illustrates a system for obtaining a cross-sectional image of a sagittal plane (Sagittal, first section 201) and a transverse plane (Transverse, second section 203) of the skull 20, and the cross-sectional images of the two different directions, for example, description A longitudinal section and a transverse section image of a human body or a part to provide a positioning indication of a plurality of scanned images. Figure 2B illustrates the cross-sectional lines in the two directions seen from the top of the head as viewed vertically, including the sagittal plane (Sagittal, first section 201) and the coronal plane (Coronal, third section 205).

Therefore, when the one or more cross-sectional images are used as the basis for reconstructing the image, when there is a comparison error in the reconstructed image, the instrument has an error, or the organism has a displacement during the scanning process, and the image is compared. It was found that there was misalignment between the layers and it was necessary to rescan. The embodiment is not limited to the sagittal plane, the lateral plane, the coronal plane or the number in the figure, and may be increased or decreased and sequentially changed as needed. The position of the section is left and right, up and down, and shallow.

One of the embodiments of the medical image storage method disclosed in the disclosure can be referred to the flow description shown in FIG.

Beginning with step S301, when an operator (for example, a technician in the radiology department) operates a specific medical imaging device to take medical images of a specific organism, such as a tomographic image, a nuclear magnetic resonance scan image, the contrast device continuously generates an image, and the disclosure book contains The medical image storage system will take the original image signal of the organism from the contrast device, which is a sequence of images. In the meantime, according to one of the embodiments, in step S303, the system can obtain the positioning image from the original images, and obtain one or two cross-sectional images in a specific direction of the living body, such as a sagittal plane, a lateral plane, and a coronary shape, as shown in FIG. 2A. A profile in face or other direction for inspection of reconstructed images.

Then, in step S305, the medical image storage system reconstructs a stereoscopic image for preview based on the obtained original file. The original image obtained by the system, for example, is a multi-planar image, which is reconstructed to form a reconstructed image of the organism. This is a multi-planar reconstructed image, which is obtained through a preliminary image processing program. The medical image is reconstructed back into a stereoscopic image of all or a particular part of the organism. The images taken from various types of contrast devices, for example, the original images of the multi-layered sequence taken from the living body, and the stereoscopic images may be images of reconstructing a part of the living body or the living body.

Then, the reconstructed image is inspected by using the acquired one or more positioning images (including the cross-sectional images in different directions). For example, in step S307, for example, it is checked whether the reconstructed image has a misalignment or other error phenomenon. If you find that there is a misplacement problem, you may need to re-uptake the image of the organism. However, the step of generating a positional image as a means of examining a reconstructed image is negligible in certain embodiments.

The reconstructed image that has been checked or not checked will be previewed by a specific professional operator, as in step S309. This is an action before storing an image or a diagnosis. The operator can find an interesting part in previewing the image according to professional judgment. This part is also one of the important steps in determining the storage strategy in the embodiment of the present invention.

When the operator performs a preview image, for example, the preview software that is specifically executed in the computer system views the reconstructed stereo image and the cross-sectional images of each layer, the relevant operation signal is generated during the preview process, and then, as in step S311, the system obtains the preview stereo. The operation signal generated during the image.

It is worth mentioning that when the operator performs image preview, the system uses the operation signal generated by the specific operation behavior of the single image as a reference for judging whether the preview part is a key part profile of interest, and the operation signals are from operation. The person uses the signal generated by the operation interface operation provided by the preview software, and the specific operation behavior of the single image includes at least: adjusting the window, panning, zooming, annotating, and performing image processing ( Image management), key noting, or an operation signal generated when a preview image is held for a period of time (a threshold can be set). However, these actions are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present invention. In one embodiment, the system provides another artificial filtering program to correct the critical profile of the system's automatic determination. A critical profile is a portion of interest in a sequence of images that may include one or more images.

Thereafter, the system will determine a key profile in one or more stereo images based on the operation signal, as described in step S313. This critical section can include multiple images within a specific range. During the preview process, if there is no operation signal recognized by the specific system (No), the preview action as in step S309 will continue to be performed.

If the system determines that there is a matching operation behavior according to the preset operation signals (Yes), the image of the relevant position is automatically marked, as shown in step S315, the relevant part can be set as a key section, including interested With one or more images, the system can capture images of critical sections.

The above-mentioned basis for judging the critical section based on the operation signal is because the operators of the relevant equipment, such as hospital radiologists, are professional technicians, and perform specific operational behaviors on meaningful and interested parts in the process of previewing images. . According to this message, the key profile can be automatically obtained, and the rest is the non-critical profile. Each key or non-critical profile will be associated with image information, ie associated To a continuous range of images.

For example: When the system determines the critical section based on the operation signal, you can set the storage range of an interval as the part where the original image should be stored. In order to scan the human body, the N-centimeter of the critical section of the judgment can be set, that is, the original image of multiple sequences within the output N cm, for example, 5 cm, and a section of about 10 cm is covered before and after; another way It is defined that the key part will be associated with N images, that is, the N original images are output at a time. There may be multiple critical sections in the entire organism image, each critical section associated with an image of a section, a complete stored portion; and the remaining parts are non-critical and streamlined storage parts (streamlined portion) ). Image storage for non-critical sections can also be used to set up images of multiple sequences associated with a range (length or number of sheets). The system uses different storage options for these two parts.

The system stores the original image according to the image information associated with one or more key sections, as in step S317. If the next critical section is judged, the non-critical section is between the specific range covered by the two key sections, and each non-critical section is also compared to a certain range of images, and the system is based on one or more associations. The image information of the non-critical section processes the image of the relevant location, and stores the processed image, as by step S319.

When one or more critical sections and one or more non-critical sections in all or part of the organism are obtained, a storage range covered by each critical section and non-critical section may be set, if the range of non-critical sections is too wide The continuous non-critical section can be divided into multiple storage ranges, and segmentation image processing and segmentation storage can still be performed during storage. The multi-layer sequence image associated with each non-critical section may take an average value or may be stored after a compression process.

However, the manner in which the system automatically determines the critical section is based on the operation signal of the preview image. For the embodiment, reference may be made to the flow shown in FIG. 4, which is a step of determining the operation behavior in the medical image storage method of the present invention.

Instrument operator (eg radiologist) when performing angiography and reconstructing images A preliminary preview is performed to check the image and find the part of interest. The storage method disclosed in the embodiment determines the part of interest according to the operator's operation behavior, that is, the key tissue part. The behavior of the operation, such as when the operator operates the preview software to view the medical image of the living body, when previewing the part of interest, a specific preview action is performed, such as the actions listed in the following steps, but the embodiment may be increased or decreased according to different needs. The basis for the judgment is not limited to the embodiment.

Beginning in step S401, the operator opens the preview software preview image, and the system simultaneously obtains the operation signal, as in step S403. The operation signal corresponding to the critical section judgment can be a plurality of operation behaviors preset by the system, and the software program can determine whether the operation behavior conforms to the preset behavior.

For example, in step S405, the system determines whether the operation behavior is an action of adjusting the preview window according to the continuously generated operation signal, that is, the system assumes that when the operator performs preview window adjustment on a certain part, the part is automatically set as a key profile, and the system is automatically As shown in step S407, the position corresponding to this portion is recorded.

If the operation signal is not an adjustment window, it will continue to determine whether it is an image manipulation (PAN) operation behavior, as in step S409. When the operator previews multiple images of a specific part on the software interface, the associated part can be set as a key section. Also, the system will record this part of the position, as in step S407.

If the operation signal is not the above-mentioned adjustment window and image tiling, it continues to determine whether it is an image zoom (ZOOM) action, and if so, as in step S411. When the system determines that the operator performs the image zooming action in this part, it can be set as a key profile and record the position, as in step S407.

If the above operation behavior is not detected, the system continues to determine whether the operator adds a text or an annotation to the partial image, and if so, in step S413, the relevant portion is set as a key profile, and The corresponding position is recorded, as by step S407.

Similarly, if the system does not detect the above operation behavior, the system will continue to judge whether the operator performs image processing, such as step S415, and if so, the relevant position is recorded. In step S407.

If the system does not detect the above operation behavior, the system continues to determine whether there is any action of marking the image. If it is determined in step S417, if the operator is to use the preview program to mark the image of a certain part, the system sets this as a key profile, and records the relevant Position, as in step S407.

Otherwise, the system continues to judge whether the operator stays for more than a period of time set by the system when previewing a certain part. If step S419, if the dwell time exceeds the threshold value set by the system, the system determines that the part is a critical section, and records the relevant position. (Step S407).

That is, if the system determines that the operator performs one of the above actions in a certain part, the system can set the part as a key section of interest and record the position; if there is no such action, the system will continue to the next paragraph. The part is judged, and the process returns to step S401.

Embodiments of the present invention that focus on determining a critical profile based on operational behavior are not limited to only the actions listed above.

Even if there is an automated process for providing system judgment as described above, in actual implementation, in other embodiments, it can be confirmed in other ways whether the judgments are correct, for example, the operator manually proposes corrections, including manually adding key sections, or deleting. The system automatically determines the critical profile, etc., to ensure that the system can finally obtain accurate critical profile images. This manual part is not described in detail in the embodiment of the present invention.

The flow shown in Figure 5 then depicts a step embodiment of storing a critical profile image file.

When the system determines the key profile, in step S501, the system will obtain a corresponding range of image files. In step S503, the storage strategy for the critical profile is to store the original image file of the range, as in step S505. However, the storage strategy does not preclude the storage of images other than the original file. For example, it may be considered to store other high-quality images that do not affect future medical diagnosis.

Then, as shown in the flow chart shown in FIG. 6, the description describes storing the non-key profile image file. Step embodiment.

In step S601, the system may determine the non-critical section after excluding the key profile, and obtain an image file of a corresponding range of one or more segments. In step S603, the system may process the non-critical section in segments, that is, segmentally store. The processed image does not store only a small number of images that cannot represent this part because of too many non-critical sections.

Steps Next, as in S605, the system calculates the average value of the images of each segment, for example, adding a plurality of image pixel values in a certain range to calculate an average value, and the system stores (or outputs) the average value of the image representing the segment. In step S607.

The average value of this example can be replaced by other methods. The purpose of the image conversion is to select only one or more of the more representative images to reduce distortion.

The above is a storage method flow applied in a medical image storage system, and the related system can be implemented in a software manner. FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the medical image storage system of the present invention.

The medical image storage system 70 disclosed in the embodiment may be a computer system including input and output ports, including an arithmetic processor, an image processor, a memory, and the like, and various softwares in the medical image storage system 70 shown in FIG. The operation of the module automatically divides the images taken from the angiography device into key sections and non-critical sections of interest, and proposes a classification and storage scheme, which can effectively save the required storage space. According to the illustrated embodiment, the medical image storage system 70 takes the medical image from the medical imaging device 72 at one end and the stored file generated by the medical image storage system 70 to the archive 74 at the other end.

The medical image storage system 70 is provided with an image input module 701 for connecting at least one medical imaging device, and taking an original image of an organism from at least one medical imaging device, and the data of the original image of the biological body after preliminary processing. The image storage module 703 can be stored in the original image storage module 703. The image reconstruction module 705 reconstructs a stereo image from the original image of the living body. The stereo image is reconstructed, for example, from a multi-plane image file.

In one embodiment of the initial process, the system can be transmitted from the living organism or the original image Like creating one or more positioning images as a positioning reference when reconstructing images. For example, the medical image storage system 70 is provided with a positioning image generating module 702 for acquiring one or more positioning images from the original image of the living body, and then using the inspection module 704 to check the reconstructed stereo image with one or more positioning images. Is there a misplacement or other wrong question? If there is a mistake, the image needs to be re-ingested and reconstructed.

The medical image storage system 70 provides a preview module 706 that can initiate a preview interface through a software program, allowing the operator to preview the stereo image and use various preview tools. For example, using the operation module 708, the operator can adjust the preview window, zoom the screen, tile the image, add annotations, and mark to perform various image processing.

The medical image storage system 70 is provided with an operation signal capture module 707 coupled to the operation module 708 for obtaining an operation signal generated by the operator when the operation module 708 is used to preview the stereo image. The operation signals can reflect the operation of the operator. Operational behavior.

In order to obtain a key profile (one or more images of interest) and a non-critical profile in the image, the medical image storage system 70 needs to set some judgment commands, so that the operation signal capture module 707 first obtains various operation signals, and then the key The profile recording module 709 determines a critical profile in one or more stereo images based on an operation command or action corresponding to the operation signal, and obtains one or more non-critical profiles after excluding the critical profile. To judge the operation signal generated by the relevant operator when the preview is operated, the program can refer to the judgment process shown in FIG. 4.

When the medical image storage system 70 obtains the critical section and the non-critical section automatically determined by the system, each of the critical sections and the non-critical sections are associated with a specific range of images to impart relevant image information. For example, the plurality of sequence image numbers associated with the multi-layer image are associated, wherein the storage operation module 710 performs the corresponding storage strategy according to the acquired image information of one or more key sections and the image information of one or more non-critical sections. . For example, the system can store original images within a certain range corresponding to one or more critical sections, or store high-quality images; and provide a simplified storage solution for images within a certain range of non-critical sections. In one embodiment, the storage operation module 710 takes an average value from the multi-layer sequence images associated with each non-critical section. And storing, by the image output module 711, the original image (or high-quality image) associated with the one or more key sections and the associated one or more non-critical sections and processed images are stored by the archive 74.

A schematic diagram of the above-mentioned key and non-critical sections is shown in Figure 8, which shows a multi-planar image taken from a part of a living organism, and a stereoscopic image can be constructed. When the operator uses the preview program to view the multiple continuous planar images, the system determines the critical and non-critical sections based on the operation signals and compares them to a certain range of images. In this example, segment a and segment c can be planar images corresponding to the critical section. This part will be stored in original or high quality (based on the quality of the medical diagnosis). The flat image and the key section have an associated information that can be used to restore the image in the future, allowing medical personnel to obtain raw or high-quality images of key sections.

The remaining part is relatively non-critical section, such as the part corresponding to the segment b and the segment d. The multi-layer sequence image associated with the non-critical section can be stored as an average value of the image, as shown in the figure to segment the image. b', d' are the average values of the images representing segment b and segment d, and then output to the archive. It is worth mentioning that the segmented image b' and the segmented image d' respectively represent a non-critical section of an interval, and an associated information (index) is provided between them to restore part of the image when browsing the file in the future. Therefore, even for non-critical sections, some of the processed images can be used to restore some of the information.

Therefore, the embodiment described in the foregoing disclosure relates to a medical image storage method and a storage system. The system automatically determines key sections and non-critical sections in the image according to the operation behavior of the operator, and then adopts different storage schemes to save images. Storage space, and still retain image information that can be viewed by the original biological image.

The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all changes and modifications made to the scope of the present invention should be within the scope of the present invention.

S301‧‧‧Image obtained from contrast equipment

S303‧‧‧Get positioning image

S305‧‧‧Reconstruction of stereoscopic images

S307‧‧‧Check reconstructed images

S309‧‧‧ Preview image

S311‧‧‧Get operation signal

S313‧‧‧Is it a critical section based on the operation signal?

S315‧‧‧Get images of key sections

S317‧‧‧Storage of original images of key sections

S319‧‧‧Storing unprocessed images of non-critical sections

Claims (2)

A medical image storage method includes: acquiring a sequence of original images generated by a contrast device, acquiring one or more positioning images in the original image, and inspecting the reconstructed image with the one or more positioning images, wherein the one or more The plurality of positioning images are obtained by taking a cross-sectional image of one or more directions from the original image of the living body as a reconstruction for reconstructing the stereoscopic image; reconstructing a stereoscopic image of the living body from the original image of the sequence; obtaining a preview An operation signal generated during the stereoscopic image; determining one or more key sections in the sequence of stereo images according to the operation signal; obtaining image information associated with the one or more key sections, and one or more remaining non-critical sections Image information; storing original or high quality images associated with the one or more key sections; and storing images associated with the one or more non-critical sections and processed. A medical image storage system includes: an image input module coupled to at least one medical imaging device for taking an original image of a living body from the at least one medical imaging device; and an original image storage module for storing the biological body An image reconstruction module reconstructs a stereoscopic image after acquiring the original image of the living body; a preview module provides an operation interface for previewing the stereoscopic image; and an operation signal capture module obtains a use image An operating signal generated when the operating module previews the stereoscopic image; a key profile recording module for determining one or a plurality of the critical sections in the stereoscopic image, and removing one or more non-critical sections after excluding the critical section; a storage computing module, obtaining image information associated with the one or more key sections and associating the one or more After the non-critical profile image information, the original image associated with the one or more key sections and the image corresponding to the one or more non-critical sections are processed; an image output module is configured to output the associated image Or an original or high-quality image of a plurality of key sections and an image associated with the one or more non-critical sections and processed, stored by an archive; a positioning image generating module is an original image of the living body Obtaining one or more positioning images; and an inspection module, and checking whether the reconstructed stereo image is misaligned by the one or more positioning images.