SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SAVING MEDICAL IMAGING DATA

• US 20180129782A1
• Filed: 11/09/2016
• Published: 05/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Himsl, Johann, Denk, Stefan
• Granted Patent: US 10,192,032 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0833 involving detecting or locating foreign bodies or organic structures
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/461 Displaying means of special interest
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/468 allowing annotation or message recording
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5207 involving processing of raw data to produce diagnostic data, e.g. for generating an image reconstruction G06T11/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5215 involving processing of medical diagnostic data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/54 Control of the diagnostic device
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/56 Details of data transmission or power supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/565 involving data transmission via a network
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10132 Ultrasound image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/41 Medical
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/00 ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical images computed tomography A61B6/03
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for tagging and selectively saving medical imaging data. One example method includes acquiring medical imaging data with a medical imaging device, tagging a subset of the medical imaging data with a tag based on one or more features of the imaging data, and saving the subset of the imaging data if the tag matches a designated tag.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

acquiring medical imaging data with a medical imaging device;

tagging a subset of the acquired medical imaging data with a first tag of a plurality of possible tags based on one or more features of the acquired medical imaging data; and

storing the subset of the acquired medical imaging data in a memory operatively coupled with the medical imaging device responsive to the first tag matching a designated tag.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising one or more of receiving a user input selecting the designated tag, selecting the designated tag responsive to a position within a predetermined imaging protocol, and selecting the designated tag responsive to an imaging mode used to acquire the medical imaging data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the acquired medical imaging data comprises one or more of two-dimensional data or three-dimensional data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the subset of acquired medical imaging data is usable to generate an image, and wherein tagging the subset of acquired medical imaging data comprises tagging the image with the first tag.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein tagging the subset of the acquired medical imaging data comprises performing feature recognition on the subset of the acquired medical imaging data and, responsive to identifying a recognized feature of the subset of the acquired medical imaging data, tagging the subset of the acquired medical imaging data with the first tag.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the recognized feature is an anatomical feature of tissue being imaged, and wherein the first tag corresponds to the anatomical feature.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the subset of the acquired medical imaging data is a first subset of the acquired medical imaging data, wherein the method further comprises performing feature recognition on each subset of the acquired medical imaging data, wherein the feature is periodic motion detected across each subset of the acquired medical imaging data, and wherein the first tag corresponds to the periodic motion.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the designated tag comprises a first designated tag, and further comprising tagging the acquired medical imaging data with a second tag, different than the first tag, and storing the image in the memory responsive to the second tag matching a second designated tag.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring medical imaging data with the medical imaging device comprises acquiring medical imaging data with an ultrasound probe, and further comprising obtaining motion data of the ultrasound probe during the acquiring of the medical imaging data, and wherein tagging the subset of the acquired medical imaging data comprises tagging the subset of the acquired medical imaging data with the first tag based on the motion data.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising tagging the subset of the acquired medical imaging data with a second tag responsive to a user input.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising, when the first tag does not match the designated tag, not storing the image in the memory.

12. An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:

an ultrasound probe;

a display;

a controller configured to;

acquire ultrasound data via the ultrasound probe;

generate an image from the acquired data;

display the image via the display;

automatically classify the image with one or more selective save tags based on one or more features of the acquired data; and

responsive to a tag of the one or more selective save tags matching a designated tag, store the image in a memory operatively coupled with the medical imaging device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the memory comprises a remote server communicatively coupled to the controller.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the controller is configured to obtain an exam context defining one or more parameters of an ultrasound scanning session during which the ultrasound data is acquired, and wherein to automatically classify the image with one or more selective save tags based on one or more features of the acquired data, the controller is configured to automatically classify the image with one or more selective save tags based on the exam context, the one or more parameters comprising one or more of an ultrasound probe type, scanning mode, and feature of interest to be scanned.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein to automatically classify the image with one or more selective save tags based on one or more features of the acquired data, the controller is configured to automatically classify the image with one or more selective save tags based on one or more of a feature identified in the image, detected motion of an identified feature of the image, and detected motion of the probe.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the image is a first image, and wherein the controller is further configured to automatically classify a second image with a selective skip tag responsive to detection of still air, and responsive to classifying the second image with the selective skip tag, the controller is configured to not save the second image in the memory.

17. An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:

an ultrasound probe;

a processor configured to;

obtain a feature of interest to be scanned by the ultrasound probe from a scanning checklist;

generate a plurality of images from ultrasound data acquired via the ultrasound probe;

send the plurality of images to a buffer memory;

automatically tag each image of the plurality of images that includes the feature of interest; and

send each tagged image to a permanent memory.

18. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 17, wherein the processor and buffer memory are housed in a common device and the permanent memory is housed in a remote device.

19. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 17, wherein the feature of interest is an anatomical organ, and wherein to automatically tag each image that includes the anatomical organ, the processor is configured to perform a feature recognition routine on each image of the plurality of images to identify each image that includes the anatomical organ, and automatically tag each identified image.

20. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 19, wherein the processor is configured to adjust the feature recognition routine based on one or more of the feature of interest and imaging mode used to acquire the ultrasound data.