ANNOTATION AND ASSESSMENT OF IMAGES

• US 20120130223A1
• Filed: 11/18/2011
• Published: 05/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Merative US LP
• Original Assignee: DR Systems Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Reicher, Murray A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,378,331 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/407
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/4812 MR combined with X-ray or computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20104 Interactive definition of region of interest [ROI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30096 Tumor; Lesion
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0016 involving temporal comparison
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/08 Biomedical applications
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/40 relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing
• 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: G16H 50/50 for simulation or modelling of medical disorders

Abstract

Annotations of medical images may be generated using one or more lexicons so that terminology is consistent across multiple exams, users, facilities, etc. Measurements of lesions may be provided using a bilinear measurement tool that allows easier bilinear measurements. Disease assessment models may be selected and applied as measurements are acquired in order to provide immediate determination of disease staging according to one or more selected assessment models.

Claims

1. A computing system comprising:

one or more hardware processors configured to execute software instructions stored in modules, a tangible computer readable medium storing modules configured for execution by the one or more hardware processors, the modules including;

a display module configured to display a medical image on a display of the computing system; and

an annotation module configured to;

provide a user interface on the display in response to completion of a measurement of a lesion on the medical image, the user interface including characteristics associated with the lesion that are selectable by the user, receive indications of one or more of the characteristics that are selected via the user interface, generate an annotation based on the one or more selected characteristics, wherein the user interface or another user interface allows the user to select a particular index of a plurality of indexes to associated with the lesion, wherein association of the lesion with the particular index allows the annotation module to associate the lesion with annotation data of the particular lesion in other exams; and

store the generated annotation with an association to the medical image.

2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein respective characteristics indicate one or more of a category of the lesion, an organ in which the lesion is located, a position within the organ of the lesion, a mass type of the lesion, characteristics of the lesion, or histology of the lesion.

3. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the annotation includes the measurement of the lesion.

4. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the annotation is generated in realtime as the one or more characteristics are selected.

5. A computing system comprising:

one or more hardware processors configured to execute software instructions stored in modules, a tangible computer readable medium storing modules configured for execution by the one or more hardware processors, the modules including;

a display module configured to display a medical image on a display of the computing system; and

a bilinear measurement module configured to;

in response to a predefined first input from an input device of the computing system, displaying a bilinear measurement tool on the medical image, the bilinear measurement tool having two axes that are independently adjustable to adjust respective lengths of the axes,

in response to a predefined second input from an input device of the computing system, adjusting a length of the first axis, in response to a predefined third input from an input device of the computing system, adjusting a length of the second axis; and

determining a first length of the first axis and a second length of the second axis.

6. The computing system of claim 5, wherein the bilinear measurement module if further configured to:

provide the first length and the second length to a report module configured to generate a report associated with the medical image that includes the first length and the second length.

7. The computing system of claim 5, wherein the bilinear measurement module is further configured to:

determine an assessment model to apply to the medical image, determine requirements for measurements of the medical image to be usable by the determined assessment model in determining a disease stage; and

determine whether the first length and/or the second length meet the determined requirements.

8. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the bilinear measurement module is configured to:

in response to determining that the first length and/or the second length do not meet the determined requirements, providing a first audible or visual indication to the user; and

/or

in response to determining that the first length and/or the second length do meet the determined requirements, providing a second audible or visual indication to the user.

9. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the first audible or visual indication comprises setting a color of at least a portion of the bilinear measurement tool to a first color, and the second audible or visual indication comprises setting the color of at least a portion of the bilinear measurement tool to a second color.

10. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the at least a portion of the bilinear measurement tool that is set to the first color comprises one or more of the axes that do not meet the determined requirements.

11. A computing system comprising:

one or more hardware processors configured to execute software instructions stored in modules, a tangible computer readable medium storing modules configured for execution by the one or more hardware processors, the modules including;

an assessment module configured to;

determine an assessment model to apply in determining a disease stage of a patient, access rules of the determined assessment model, access lesion measurement data from two or more exams of the patient, select the lesion measurement data that satisfies the rules of the determined assessment model, determine a baseline assessment scores based on measurement data from one or more of the two or more exams of the patient, determine a current assessment scores based on measurement data from a latest exam of the patient, compare the baseline assessment scores with the current assessment scores in accordance with the determined assessment model; and

determine a disease stage based on the comparison of the baseline assessment scores with the current assessment scores in accordance with the determined assessment model.

12. The computing system of claim 11, wherein determining the assessment model comprises:

accessing DICOM header information of at least one of the two or more exams, accessing a data structure having associations between attributes of the DICOM header information and respective assessment scores; and

selecting the assessment model based on associations in the data structure between the attributes of the DICOM header information and the assessment model.

13. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the assessment model comprises first rules for use with a first category of lesions and second rules for use with a second category of lesions.

14. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the first category of lesions comprises solid tumors.

15. The computing system of claim 14, wherein the second category of lesions comprises lymph nodes.

16. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the rules of the determined assessment model specify a minimum longest diameter and/or minimum short axis for a lesion measurement to be used by the assessment model.

17. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the baseline assessment score is a total of longest diameters of lesions in a selected previous exam.

18. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the current assessment score is a total of longest diameters of lesions in a latest exam.

19. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the baseline assessment score is a total of short axis lengths of lesions in a selected previous exam.

20. The computing system of claim 19, wherein the current assessment score is a total of short axis lengths of lesions in a latest exam.