COMPUTER-AIDED DIAGNOSIS APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME

• US 20100189323A1
• Filed: 01/25/2010
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Sakagawa, Yukio
• Application Number:
  US12/692,952
• Publication Number:
  US 20100189323A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30004 Biomedical image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

A computer-aided diagnosis apparatus includes a storage unit configured to store a plurality of schema background images and can support a diagnosis to be performed based on at least one of the schema background images. The computer-aided diagnosis apparatus includes an input unit configured to input medical inspection data of an inspection object, an analysis unit configured to analyze the medical inspection data, a selection unit configured to select a schema background image from the plurality of schema background images stored in the storage unit based on an analysis result obtained by the analysis unit, and an output unit configured to output the schema background image selected by the selection unit.

Claims

1. A computer-aided diagnosis apparatus that includes a storage unit configured to store a plurality of schema background images and can support a diagnosis to be performed based on at least one of the schema background images, the computer-aided diagnosis apparatus comprising:

an input unit configured to input medical inspection data of an inspection object;

an analysis unit configured to analyze the medical inspection data;

a selection unit configured to select a schema background image from the plurality of schema background images stored in the storage unit based on an analysis result obtained by the analysis unit; and

an output unit configured to output the schema background image selected by the selection unit.

2. The computer-aided diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit is configured to generate a schema background image candidate list based on the analysis result obtained by the analysis unit and select the schema background image based on the generated list.

3. The computer-aided diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the analysis unit is configured to analyze whether the medical inspection data includes an abnormal candidate.

4. The computer-aided diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the analysis unit is configured to extract a region included in the medical inspection data and analyze whether an abnormal candidate is present in the extracted region.

5. The computer-aided diagnosis apparatus according to claim 3, wherein in a case where the abnormal candidate is included in the analysis result obtained by the analysis unit, the output unit is configured to add abnormality information relating to the abnormal candidate to the schema background image selected by the selection unit.

6. The computer-aided diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the medical inspection data is medical image data.

7. The computer-aided diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit is configured to store a plurality of schema background images for a same region of a human body, and wherein each of the plurality of background images includes a different degree of detail.

8. A computer-aided diagnosis system comprising:

a computer-aided diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1;

a medical image database configured to store medical image data that can be used as medical inspection data; and

a medical document database configured to store medical document data to which the schema background image selected by the selection unit can be added,

wherein the computer-aided diagnosis apparatus is connected to the medical image database and the medical document database via a network.

10. A computer-readable storage medium storing thereon a computer-executable program for causing a computer to control each unit of a computer-aided diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1.

11. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 10 further storing thereon instructions for causing the computer-aided diagnosis apparatus to connect to:

a medical image database configured to store medical image data that can be used as the medical inspection data; and

a medical document database configured to store medical document data to which the schema background image selected by the selection unit can be added,

wherein the computer-aided diagnosis apparatus is connected to the medical image database and the medical document database via a network.

9. A method for supporting diagnosis with a computer-aided diagnosis apparatus, the apparatus including a storage unit configured to store a plurality of schema background images, the method comprising:

inputting medical inspection data of an inspection object;

analyzing the medical inspection data so as to obtain an analysis result;

selecting a schema background image from the plurality of schema background images stored in the storage unit based on the analysis result obtained by the analyzing step; and

outputting the selected schema background image.