Image based medical report system on a network

• US 20030156745A1
• Filed: 09/10/2002
• Published: 08/21/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TeraRecon Inc. (Fortive Corp.)
• Original Assignee: TeraRecon Inc. (Fortive Corp.)
• Inventors: Takahashi, Kazuo, Saito, Motoaki
• Granted Patent: US 7,209,578 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS

Abstract

A system to create and review reports enables interactive manipulation of the displaying of two-dimensional and three-dimensional images associated with image diagnosis reports, at user terminals connected to a medium- or low-speed network. High-speed image processing devices are set up near the network of a PACS server which archives and transmits medical image data, and parameter sets are attached which serve to recreate reference images in diagnosis reports. When users at a requesting department review the reports at user terminals, parameter sets are added to the reports and transmitted to image processing devices. The image processing devices obtain image data from the PACS server based on these parameter sets. Image processing is performed, and the image data is then sent to user terminals.

Claims

1. A medical information system comprising:

a picture archiving communication system (PACS) system to archive medical image data generated by a medical imaging device;

an image processing system coupled in proximity to the PACS system to process the medical image data and to specify image processing parameters sets associated with the medical image data;

a report creation device coupled to the image processing system to create medical reports, the medical reports having associated therewith images based on the medical image data; and

a plurality of user terminal devices to receive the reports and for use by a plurality of users to review the reports, including displaying and allowing user manipulation of two-dimensional and three-dimensional medical images associated with the reports, wherein the image processing parameter sets are attached to the received reports.

2. A system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a hospital information system (HIS) server to archive the reports and to transmit the reports to the user terminal devices in response to requests.

3. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the image processing system, the PACS system and the report-creation device are coupled on a first network.

4. A system as recited in claim 3, wherein the plurality of user terminal devices are coupled on a second network, and wherein the image processing system is further coupled to the second network.

5. A system as recited in claim 4, further comprising a hospital information system (HIS) server, coupled to the first network and the second network, to archive the reports and to transmit the reports to the user terminal devices in response to requests.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the user terminal devices is capable of transmitting updated image processing parameters associated with a report to the image processing system in response to user manipulation of a displayed medical image, in response to which the image processing system processes the medical image data based on the updated image processing parameters to create updated medical images and transmits the updated medical images to said user terminal device, so as to enable interactive display and manipulation of medical images from said user terminal devices.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the PACS server archives image processing parameter sets, associated with which are corresponding identifiers;

a user terminal device of the plurality of user terminal devices transmits to the image processing system the identifiers of said image processing parameter sets; and

the image processing system obtains image data from the PACS server based on the image processing parameter sets corresponding to the identifiers and uses the obtained image data to process images.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the PACS server and the image processing system are integrated in a single device.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the image processing system creates and transmits two-dimensional and three-dimensional image signals and a control signal to the user terminal devices, and the user terminal devices display medical images in response thereto.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the report creation device is integrated with an image display device.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the image processing system compresses the image data prior to transmitting the image data to the user terminal devices, and wherein the user terminal devices receive and decompress the compressed image data.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more thumbnail images based on said medical image data are incorporated into the reports and are associated with said image processing parameter sets, and wherein, in response to a user input directed to one of the thumbnail images, corresponding image processing parameter sets or identifiers thereof are transmitted to the image processing system.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein each of the user terminal devices can display, in reports, images transmitted from the image processing system.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein each of the user terminal devices can display images transmitted from the image processing system in a window that is separate from an associated report.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein, in response to a user input directed to a thumbnail image attached to a report, image processing parameters are updated and transmitted to the image processing system.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein each of the user terminal devices can display, in a window that is separate from a report, a user interface to update image processing parameters in response to a user input directed to a thumbnail image incorporated into the report;

wherein the updated image processing parameters are transmitted to the image processing system.

17. An information system to create and review reports associated with medical image data, the information system comprising:

a picture archiving communication system (PACS) server to archive medical image data generated by a medical imaging device;

an image processing server coupled to the PACS server on a first data network and further coupled to a second data network, the image processing server to process the medical image data and to specify image processing parameters sets associated with the medical image data;

a plurality of report creation devices coupled to the first data network to create reports containing the results of diagnoses based on medical images resulting from the medical image data;

a plurality of user terminal devices coupled to each other and to the image processing server on the second data network, to receive the reports and for use by a plurality of users to review the reports, including displaying and allowing user manipulation of two-dimensional and three-dimensional medical images associated with the reports, wherein the image processing parameter sets are attached to the received reports; and

a hospital information system (HIS) server, coupled to the first data network and the second data network, to archive the reports and to transmit the reports to the user terminal devices in response to requests.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein each of the user terminal devices is capable of transmitting updated image processing parameters associated with a report to the image processing server in response to user manipulation of a displayed medical image, in response to which the image processing server processes the medical image data based on the updated image processing parameters to create updated medical images and transmits the updated medical images to said user terminal device, so as to enable interactive display and manipulation of medical images from said user terminal devices.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein:

the PACS server archives image processing parameter sets, associated with which are corresponding identifiers;

a user terminal device of the plurality of user terminal devices transmits to the image processing server the identifiers of said image processing parameter sets; and

the image processing server obtains image data from the PACS server based on the image processing parameter sets corresponding to the identifiers and uses the obtained image data to process images.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the PACS server and the image processing server are integrated in a single device.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the image processing server creates and transmits two-dimensional and three-dimensional image signals and a control signal to the user terminal devices, and the user terminal devices display medical images in response thereto.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the report creation devices are integrated with image display devices.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the image processing server compresses the image data prior to transmitting the image data to the user terminal devices, and wherein the user terminal devices receive and decompress the compressed image data.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein one or more thumbnail images based on said medical image data are incorporated into the reports and are associated with said image processing parameter sets, and wherein, in response to a user input directed to one of the thumbnail images, corresponding image processing parameter sets or identifiers thereof are transmitted to the image processing server.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein each of the user terminal devices can display, in reports, images transmitted from the image processing server.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein each of the user terminal devices can display images transmitted from the image processing server in a window that is separate from an associated report.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein, in response to a user input directed to a thumbnail image attached to a report, image processing parameters are updated and transmitted to the image processing server.

28. The system of claim 24, wherein each of the user terminal devices can display, in a window that is separate from a report, a user interface to update image processing parameters in response to a user input directed to a thumbnail image incorporated into the report;

wherein the updated image processing parameters are transmitted to the image processing server.

29. A method comprising:

delivering a medical report document to a processing system of a recipient over a data network, the medical report document having a set of image parameters attached thereto;

receiving, from the processing system of the recipient over the data network, a modified set of image parameters in response to a user input directed to a medical image displayed on the processing system, the medical image associated with the set of image parameters;

in response to the user input, accessing medical image data from a server coupled to the data network;

generating modified image data based on the modified set of image parameters and the accessed medical image data; and

delivering the modified image data to the processing system of the recipient over the data network, such that the medical image displayed on the processing system of the recipient is modified interactively according to the user input.