SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EFFICIENT WORKFLOW IN READING MEDICAL IMAGE DATA

• US 20090129644A1
• Filed: 11/21/2008
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Merative US LP
• Original Assignee: Confirma, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Epps, Brian W., Daw, Shawni L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,107,700 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Abstract

A system provides methods to significantly improve the efficiency of reading medical image data. The workflow panel provides a grouping of tasks for reviewing and comparing medical images. Tablets are created for each task, consolidating the tools and associated hanging protocols to efficiently perform the actions for that task. The 3D navigation point keeps the current spatial focus point within the field of view as the user transitions between series, orientations, hanging protocols, and zoom levels. The spatial zoom method provides consistent zooming of series with varying fields of view and spatial resolution. Having the ability to overlay the parametric map on any series, regardless of its orientation or field of view, allows the user to correlate the parametric map with features on the non-temporal series. Integrating all of these methods with the workflow panel allows users to quickly step through the tasks in a workflow with minimal user actions.

Claims

1. A system for viewing medical images and associated medical data, comprising:

a data storage structure configured to store a plurality of workflow processes;

an interface to receive the medical images and associated medical data;

a display device to display at least a portion of the medical image data;

a user-operable input device; and

a processor configured to accept user input from the input device to select a workflow process from among a plurality of workflow processes, the selected workflow process comprising a plurality of workflow panels displayed on the display device wherein each of the plurality of a workflow panel displays tablets for tasks in the workflow, with the appropriate data and tools in the tablet panel.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the display device displays the tablet panel with an expanded view unveiling all of the data and tools, or with a collapsed view displaying the key data to report for that task.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein there is an assigned hanging protocol for viewing a series of medical images associated with the data and tools in the tablet panel, and selecting the tablet panel causes the display device to display data in the tablet panel and image panels in accordance with the assigned hanging protocol.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein after the display device displays medical images in the tablet panel in accordance with the assigned hanging protocol, the processor is further configured to automatically pan the medical images so a current three dimensional (3D) spatial focus point is in view on the display device.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein after the display device displays medical images in the tablet panel in accordance with the assigned hanging protocol, the processor is further configured to automatically set a three dimensional (3D) spatial focus point based on a selected region of interest in the displayed medical image in the tablet, and the displayed medical image is automatically panned so the new 3D spatial focus point is in view on the display device.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is further comprising a spatial zoom level for the medical images displayed on the display device.

7. The system of claim 6 where the hanging protocol includes a spatial zoom level relative to a selected region of interest in the displayed medical image.

8. A system for viewing medical images and associated medical data, comprising:

a data storage structure configured to store a plurality of workflow processes;

an interface to receive the medical images and associated medical data;

a display device to display at least a portion of the medical image data;

a user-operable input device; and

a processor configured to accept user input from the input device to select a portion of the medical images comprising a left-side unilateral series and a corresponding right-side unilateral series, the processor having a single hanging protocol associated with the selected portion of the medical images wherein the processor switches the single hanging protocol assigned to one of the left side and right side unilateral series wherein the processor applies the single hanging protocol to the other of the left side and right side unilateral series.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein a button operable by a user can be used to switch between the left side and right side unilateral series.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the display device automatically switches between the left side and right side unilateral series based on a current spatial point of focus on the display device.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the display device automatically switches between the left side and right side unilateral series based on a user selection of lesion whose location is used to determine which of the left side and right side unilateral series to display.

12. A system for viewing medical images and associated medical data, comprising:

a data storage structure configured to store a plurality of workflow processes;

an interface to receive the medical images and associated medical data;

a display device to display at least a portion of the medical image data;

a user-operable input device; and

a processor configured to accept user input from the input device to select a portion of the medical images for display, the processor being further configured to generate a current three dimensional (3D) spatial focus location on a medical image displayed on the display device wherein the processor determines the current 3D focus location in the others of the medical images as the others of the medical images are newly displayed on the display device to thereby automatically update the medical images to view the current 3D spatial focus location as the newly displayed images are displayed on the display device.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor automatically determines the current 3D spatial focus point in a different series of medical images to thereby automatically select one of the medical images in the new series that corresponds to the current 3D spatial focus point.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor applies a hanging protocol to the medical image on the display device and automatically determines the current 3D spatial focus point in medical image to thereby automatically position the current 3D spatial focus point in the medical image in response to changes in the hanging protocol.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is configured to set the current 3D focus location in response to user operation of the input device to click on a location in the medical image displayed on the display device.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is configured to set the current 3D focus location in response to user operation of the input device to click on a lesion, finding, or other object in the displayed medical image.

17. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is configured to set the current 3D focus location in response to user operation of the input device to click on a displayed list.

18. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is configured to display different ones of medical images in a display in response to user operation of the input device to scroll through the medical images in the series in a user-selected direction wherein the processor is configured to update the current 3D focus location only in a vector direction in which the user is scrolling through the medical images in the series.

19. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is configured to set the current 3D focus location in response to user operation of the input device to zoom in the displayed medical image wherein the center of the zoomed image is used to set the current 3D focus location.

20. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is configured to automatically pan the displayed medical image so the 3D focus location is within view on the display device in response to the application of a hanging protocol to the displayed medical image that results in a zoomed medical image.

21. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is configured to automatically pan the displayed medical image so the 3D focus location is within view on the display device in response to the selection of a different series of medical images that results in a zoomed medical image.

22. A system for viewing medical images and associated medical data comprising:

a data storage structure configured to store a plurality of workflow processes;

an interface to receive the medical images and associated medical data;

a display device to display at least a portion of the medical image data;

a user-operable input device; and

a processor configured to accept user input from the input device to select a portion of the medical images for display, the processor being further configured to generate a zoom image for display wherein medical images in the same plane are linked and zoom to the same spatial zoom level, wherein a feature in the medical images is displayed as the same size in all image views regardless of the original spatial resolution, size, or field of view of each of the images.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein a spatial field of view is saved in a hanging protocol to thereby provide consistent views regardless of the display resolution of various display stations using the hanging protocol.

24. The system of claim 22 wherein a spatial field of view is relative to a selected image feature.

25. A system for viewing medical images and associated medical data comprising:

a data storage structure configured to store a plurality of workflow processes;

an interface to receive the medical images and associated medical data;

a display device to display at least a portion of the medical image data;

a user-operable input device; and

a processor configured to accept user input from the input device to select a portion of the medical images for display, the processor being further configured to generate display data wherein a parametric map overlay is reformatted to match a field of view and orientation of any other series in the study so the computed parametric maps can be overlaid on those series.

26. A method for viewing medical images and associated medical data, comprising:

storing a plurality of workflow processes;

receiving the medical images and associated medical data;

displaying at least a portion of the medical image data on a display device;

a user-operable input device; and

in response to user input from the input device to select a workflow process from among a plurality of workflow processes, displaying the selected workflow process comprising a plurality of workflow panels displayed on the display device wherein each of the plurality of a workflow panel displays tablets for tasks in the workflow, with the appropriate data and tools in the tablet panel.