MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS SUPPORT SYSTEM

• US 20100256459A1
• Filed: 03/26/2010
• Published: 10/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Ishikawa, Ryo, Miyasa, Kazuhiro, Katayama, Akihiro, Iizuka, Yoshio
• Granted Patent: US 10,068,056 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

This invention provides a mechanism for making a doctor surely follow correct procedures in which the doctor confirms diagnosis information obtained by computer processing after he or she has completed interpretation. A medical diagnosis support apparatus executes diagnosis processing for acquiring medical diagnosis information from an image to be interpreted by computer processing. The medical diagnosis support apparatus accepts interpretation information as an interpretation result of the image to be interpreted, which information is input by, for example, a doctor. The medical diagnosis support apparatus calculates a degree of matching between the diagnosis information and interpretation information, and permits to present the diagnosis information acquired by the diagnosis processing when the calculated degree of matching exceeds a predetermined threshold.

Claims

1. A medical diagnosis support apparatus comprising:

a diagnosis processing unit configured to acquire medical diagnosis information from an image to be interpreted by computer processing;

an input unit configured to input interpretation information as an interpretation result of the image to be interpreted;

a calculation unit configured to calculate a degree of matching between the diagnosis information and the interpretation information; and

a permission unit configured to, when the degree of matching calculated by said calculation unit exceeds a predetermined threshold, permit to present the diagnosis information acquired by said diagnosis processing unit.

2. The medical diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said calculation unit calculates the degree of matching based on

a result obtained by comparing the numbers of findings included in the interpretation information and the diagnosis information, and

a result obtained by determining a degree of ease of detection based on description contents of each of findings included in the diagnosis information, and comparing the numbers of findings included in the interpretation information and the diagnosis information in association with findings, each of which has the degree of ease of detection larger than a predetermined value.

3. The medical diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said calculation unit calculates degrees of matching for respective finding items of each of findings included in the interpretation information and diagnosis information,

said calculation unit calculates degrees of matching for respective findings included in the interpretation information and the diagnosis information based on the degrees of matching for respective finding items, and

said calculation unit calculates a total degree of matching between the interpretation information and the diagnosis information based on the degrees of matching for respective findings.

4. The medical diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the total degree of matching is obtained by calculating, as a degree of matching, a ratio between a value obtained by summing up products between the degrees of matching for respective findings and degrees of importance decided based on finding items included in the findings for all findings included in the interpretation information, and a sum value of degrees of importance of all findings included in the diagnosis information.

5. The medical diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the total degree of matching is obtained by calculating, as a degree of matching, a value obtained by dividing a sum value of degrees of matching for respective findings included in the interpretation information by the total number of findings included in the diagnosis information.

10. The medical diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a storage unit configured to store previous medical images and pieces of related previous interpretation information;

an acquisition unit configured to specify a previous medical image related to the image to be interpreted from said storage unit, and acquire previous interpretation information corresponding to the specified previous medical image from said storage unit; and

a change unit configured to change the threshold based on a degree of matching between diagnosis information obtained by processing the previous medical image, which is specified by said acquisition unit, by said diagnosis processing unit, and the previous interpretation information acquired by said acquisition unit, the degree of matching being calculated by said calculation unit.

6. A medical diagnosis support apparatus comprising:

a storage unit configured to store previous medical images and pieces of related previous interpretation information;

a diagnosis processing unit configured to acquire medical diagnosis information from an image to be interpreted by computer processing;

an input unit configured to input interpretation information as an interpretation result of the image to be interpreted;

an acquisition unit configured to specify a previous medical image related to the image to be interpreted from said storage unit, and acquire previous interpretation information corresponding to the specified previous medical image from said storage unit;

a calculation unit configured to calculate a degree of matching between descriptions included in the previous interpretation information acquired by said acquisition unit and the interpretation information input by said input unit; and

a permission unit configured to, when the degree of matching calculated by said calculation unit exceeds a predetermined threshold, permit to present the diagnosis information acquired by said diagnosis processing unit.

7. The medical diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said acquisition unit specifies an image having a highest similarity between images to the image to be interpreted of the previous medical images stored in said storage unit, as the previous medical image related to the image to be interpreted.

8. The medical diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising change unit configured to change the threshold based on a similarity between the specified previous medical image and the image to be interpreted.

9. The medical diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said acquisition unit specifies a latest medical image of previous medical images for an object of the image to be interpreted as the previous medical image related to the image to be interpreted.

11. (canceled)

12. A method of controlling a medical diagnosis support apparatus, comprising:

a diagnosis processing step of acquiring medical diagnosis information from an image to be interpreted by computer processing;

an input step of inputting interpretation information as an interpretation result of the image to be interpreted;

a calculation step of calculating a degree of matching between the diagnosis information and the interpretation information; and

a permission step of, when the degree of matching calculated in the calculation step exceeds a predetermined threshold, permitting to present the diagnosis information acquired in the diagnosis processing step.

15. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for making a computer execute a method of controlling a medical diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 12.

13. A method of controlling a medical diagnosis support apparatus, which comprises storage unit configured to store previous medical images and pieces of related previous interpretation information, comprising:

a diagnosis processing step of acquiring medical diagnosis information from an image to be interpreted by computer processing;

an input step of inputting interpretation information as an interpretation result of the image to be interpreted;

an acquisition step of specifying a previous medical image related to the image to be interpreted from the storage unit, and acquiring previous interpretation information corresponding to the specified previous medical image from the storage unit;

a calculation step of calculating a degree of matching between descriptions included in the previous interpretation information acquired in the acquisition step and the interpretation information input in the input step; and

a permission step of, when the degree of matching calculated in the calculation step exceeds a predetermined threshold, permitting to present the diagnosis information acquired in the diagnosis processing step.

16. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for making a computer execute a method of controlling a medical diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 13.

14. (canceled)