REPORT SEARCHING APPARATUS AND A METHOD FOR SEARCHING A REPORT

• US 20090132499A1
• Filed: 11/20/2008
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Canon Inc.), Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Shibuya, Masato, YAMAGISHI, Hiromasa, Futami, Hikaru
• Granted Patent: US 8,244,684 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients

Abstract

Specified types of words are extracted from a plurality of radiology reports archived in an archive configured to archive a plurality of radiology reports. The words extracted from a single radiology report are stored in combination. In response to an input operation using an operating part of inputting the specified types of words, combinations including the specified types of words as one part are searched. A list of the specified types of words included as the other part in the searched combinations is generated. In response to an input operation using the operating part of selecting any word from the word list, a list of radiology reports including the inputted word and the selected word is generated. In response to an input operation using the operating part of selecting any report from the radiology report list, the selected radiology report is outputted from the archive to a display.

Claims

1. A report searching apparatus, comprising:

an archive configured to archive a plurality of radiology reports;

an extracting part configured to extract specified types of words from the plurality of radiology reports;

a combination generator configured to generate combinations of words extracted from the radiology reports, for every radiology report;

an index storage configured to store the combinations generated by the combination generator;

a searching part configured to, in response to an input operation of inputting the specified types of words, search the combinations each including the inputted specified types of words as one part thereof, from the index storage;

a list generator configured to generate a list of the other part of the specified types of words included in each of the combinations searched by the searching part and, in response to an input operation of selecting any word from the list of the words, generate a list of radiology reports including the one word having been inputted and the other word having been selected; and

an output part configured to, in response to an input operation of selecting any report from the list of the radiology reports, output a selected radiology report from the archive.

2. The report searching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the index storage stores so that the combinations are linked with information identifying radiology reports including the combinations; and

the searching part, in response to an input operation of inputting a plurality of words, searches the combinations including any of the inputted words and linked with information identifying the same radiology report, from the index storage.

3. The report searching apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a counter configured to count the number of the combinations including the same other word, from among the combinations searched by the searching part, wherein;

the list generator creates a list in which the other word is linked with the number of the combinations including the other word.

4. The report searching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the extracting part includes a dictionary storage configured to store dictionary data including a word in a finding field and a word in a diagnosed disease name field of a radiology report, and extracts the word in the finding field and the word in the diagnosed disease name field included in the dictionary data; and

the combination generator generates a combination of the word in the finding field and the word in the diagnosed disease name field.

5. The report searching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the extracting part includes a dictionary storage configured to store dictionary data including words in the finding field of the radiology report, and extracts the word in the finding field included in the dictionary data; and

the combination generator generates a combination of the words in the finding field.

6. The report searching apparatus according to claim 4, wherein:

the dictionary storage stores the dictionary data including words indicating regions, words indicating findings occurring at the regions, and words indicating positive/negative of the findings, as words in the finding field;

the extracting part extracts the respective types of words included in one sentence as a set; and

the combination generator generates the combination of the set and a word in the diagnosed disease name field.

7. The report searching apparatus according to claim 5, wherein:

the dictionary storage stores the dictionary data including words indicating regions, words indicating findings occurring at the regions, and words indicating positive/negative of the findings;

the extracting part extracts the respective types of words included in one sentence as a set; and

the combination generator generates the combination of a set of the respective types of words included in one sentence and a set of the respective types of words included in another sentence.

8. The report searching apparatus according to claim 4, wherein:

the searching part, in response to an input operation of inputting words in the finding field, searches the combination including the inputted words in the finding field, from the index storage.

9. The report searching apparatus according to claim 4, wherein:

the searching part, in response to an input operation of inputting words in the diagnosed disease name field, searches the combination including the inputted words in the diagnosed disease name field, from the index storage.

10. The report searching apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:

the searching part, in response to an input operation of inputting a word-set, searches the combination including the inputted set, from the index storage.

11. The report searching apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:

the searching part, in response to an input operation of inputting one sentence, decomposes the inputted sentence into words, and searches the combination including a set of the decomposed words, from the index storage.

12. A report searching apparatus connected to a display configured to display a search screen directly or via a network, comprising:

an archive configured to archive a plurality of radiology reports;

a dictionary storage configured to store dictionary data including words in finding fields and words in diagnosed disease name fields of the radiology reports;

an extracting part configured to extract the words in the finding fields and the words in the diagnosed disease name fields included in the dictionary data, from the plurality of radiology reports;

a combination generator configured to generate combinations of the words in the finding fields and the words in the diagnosed disease name fields extracted from the radiology reports, for every radiology report;

an index storage configured to store the combinations generated by the combination generator;

a searching part configured to, in response to an input operation of inputting the words in the finding fields, search the combinations each including the inputted words as one part thereof, from the index storage;

a list generator configured to generate a list of the words in the diagnosed disease name fields included in the combinations searched by the searching part and, in response to an input operation of selecting any word from the list of the words in the diagnosed disease name fields, generate a list of radiology reports including the inputted word in the finding field and the selected word in the diagnosed disease name field; and

an output part configured to first output the list of the words in the diagnosed disease name fields displayed on the search screen to the display, next output the list of the radiology reports displayed on the search screen to the display, and thereafter, in response to an input operation of selecting any report from the list of the radiology reports, output a selected radiology report from the archive to the display.

13. A method for searching a report in a report searching apparatus connected to an archive configured to archive a plurality of radiology reports, an operating part, and a display, the method comprising:

extracting specified types of words from the plurality of radiology reports archived in the archive, and storing the words extracted from the radiology reports in combination, for every radiology report;

in response to an input operation of inputting the specified types of words by using the operating part, searching the combinations including the inputted specified types of words as one part thereof, and generating a list of the other part of the specified types of words included in the searched combinations;

in response to an input operation of selecting any word from the list the words by using the operating part, generating a list of radiology reports including the one word having been inputted and the other word having been selected; and

in response to an input operation of selecting any report from among the list of the radiology reports by using the operating part, outputting the selected radiology report from the archive to the display.

14. A method for searching a report in a report searching apparatus that is connected to an archive configured to archive a plurality of radiology reports, an operating part, and a display configured to display a search screen, and that has a dictionary storage configured to previously store dictionary data including words in finding fields and words in diagnosed disease name fields of the radiology reports, the method comprising:

extracting the words in the finding fields and the words in the diagnosed disease name fields included in the dictionary data from the plurality of radiology reports archived in the archive, and storing the words in the finding fields and the words in the diagnosed disease name fields extracted from the radiology reports in combination, for every radiology report;

in response to an input operation of inputting the words in the finding fields by using the operating part, searching the combinations including the inputted words as one part thereof, and generating a list of the words in the diagnosed disease name fields included in the searched combinations;

outputting the list of the words in the diagnosed disease name fields to the display;

in response to an input operation of selecting any word from the list of the words in the diagnosed disease name fields displayed on the search screen of the display by using the operating part, generating a list of radiology reports including the inputted words in the finding fields and the selected words in the diagnosed disease name fields;

outputting the list of the radiology reports to the display; and

in response to an input operation of selecting any report from the list of the radiology reports displayed on the search screen of the display by using the operating part, outputting the selected radiology report from the archive to the display.