ACCESSING MEDICAL IMAGE DATABASES USING ANATOMICAL SHAPE INFORMATION

• US 20100063977A1
• Filed: 09/26/2007
• Published: 03/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Lehmann, Helko, Weese, Juergen
• Granted Patent: US 8,676,832 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS

Abstract

The invention relates to a system (100) for retrieving a volumetric image data subset comprised in a data storage (105) of volumetric image data sets, the system comprising: a first query unit (111; 113) for composing a first query for searching the data storage (105) for a volumetric image data set comprising the volumetric image data subset; a second query unit (112; 113) for composing a second query for searching the volumetric image data set for the volumetric image data subset, the second query comprising anatomical structure information for identifying an anatomical structure within the volumetric image data set; a first determination unit (121; 123) for determining the volumetric image data set, based on the first query; a second determination unit (122; 123) for determining the volumetric image data subset of the volumetric image data set, based on the anatomical structure identified within the volumetric image data set, using the anatomical structure information comprised in the second query; and a retrieval unit (125) for retrieving the determined volumetric image data subset. The system is thus capable of retrieving a reduced amount of data describing the anatomical structure, i.e. a subset of a volumetric image data set.

Claims

1. A system (100) for retrieving a volumetric image data subset comprised in a data storage (105) of volumetric image data sets, the system comprising:

a first query unit (111;

113) for composing a first query for searching the data storage (105) for a volumetric image data set comprising the volumetric image data subset;

a second query unit (112;

113) for composing a second query for searching the volumetric image data set for the volumetric image data subset, the second query comprising anatomical structure information for identifying an anatomical structure within the volumetric image data set;

a first determination unit (121;

123) for determining the volumetric image data set, based on the first query;

a second determination unit (122;

123) for determining the volumetric image data subset of the volumetric image data set, based on the anatomical structure identified within the volumetric image data set, using the anatomical structure information comprised in the second query; and

a retrieval unit (125) for retrieving the determined volumetric image data subset.

2. A system (100) as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an addition unit (110) for adding a new volumetric image data set to the data storage (105).

3. A system (100) as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a segmentation unit (130) for segmenting the volumetric image data set, based on the anatomical structure information.

4. A system (100) as claimed in claim 2, further arranged to identify the anatomical structure in the new volumetric image data set, based on the anatomical structure information when the new volumetric image data set is added to the data storage (105).

5. A system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second determination unit (122) is arranged to determine the volumetric image data subset, based on a shape model adapted to the anatomical structure within the volumetric image data set.

6. A system (100) as claimed claim 1, wherein the anatomical structure information further comprises information on a property of the anatomical structure.

7. A system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the retrieval unit 125 is further arranged for retrieving a characteristic of the determined volumetric image data subset.

8. A system (100) as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a client unit (140) comprising the first query unit (111) and the second query unit (112), and a server unit (150) comprising the data storage (105), the first determination unit (121), and the second determination unit (122).

9. An image acquisition apparatus (300) comprising the system (100) as claimed in claim 1.

10. A workstation (400) comprising the system (100) as claimed in claim 1.

11. A method (200) of retrieving a volumetric image data subset comprised in a data storage of volumetric image data sets, the method comprising:

a first query step (211) for composing a first query for searching the data storage for a volumetric image data set comprising the volumetric image data subset;

a second query step (212) for composing a second query for searching the volumetric image data set for the volumetric image data subset, the second query comprising anatomical structure information for identifying an anatomical structure within the volumetric image data set;

a first determination step (221) for determining the volumetric image data set, based on the first query;

a second determination step (222) for determining the volumetric image data subset of the volumetric image data set, based on the anatomical structure identified within the volumetric image data set, using the anatomical structure information comprised in the second query; and

a retrieval step (225) for retrieving the determined volumetric image data subset.

12. A computer program product to be loaded by a computer arrangement, comprising instructions for retrieving a volumetric image data subset comprised in a data storage of volumetric image data sets, the computer arrangement comprising a processing unit and a memory, the computer program product, after being loaded, providing said processing unit with the capability to carry out the tasks of:

composing a first query for searching the data storage for a volumetric image data set comprising the volumetric image data subset;

composing a second query for searching the volumetric image data set for the volumetric image data subset, the second query comprising anatomical structure information for identifying an anatomical structure within the volumetric image data set;

determining the volumetric image data set, based on the first query;

determining the volumetric image data subset of the volumetric image data set, based on the anatomical structure identified within the volumetric image data set, using the anatomical structure information comprised in the second query; and

retrieving the determined volumetric image data subset.