COMPUTER-AIDED ANALYSIS AND RENDERING OF MEDICAL IMAGES

• US 20170200270A1
• Filed: 03/24/2017
• Published: 07/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Merative US LP
• Original Assignee: DR Systems Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Reicher, Murray A., Fram, Evan K., Trambert, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,934,568 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2576/00 Medical imaging apparatus involving image processing or analysis A61B1/00009, A61B6/52 and A61B8/52 take precedence; image processing per se G06T; details of algorithms for analysing medical images G06T7/0012
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7271 Specific aspects of physiological measurement analysis A61B5/316, A61B5/349 and A61B5/374 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/24 Classification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2101/00 Indexing scheme relating to the type of digital function generated
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/005 General purpose rendering architectures
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/08 Volume rendering
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/04 involving 3D image data
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30004 Biomedical image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/41 Medical
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/03 Recognition of patterns in medical or anatomical images
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 : based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/70 : characterised by syntax aspects related to video coding, e.g. related to compression standards

Abstract

Systems and methods that allow transfer and display rules to be defined based on one or more of several attributes, such as a particular user, site, device, and/or image/series characteristic, as well as whether individual images and/or image series are classified as thin slices and/or based on other characteristics, and applied to medical images in order to determine which images and/or image data are analyzed, downloaded, viewed, stored, rendered, processed, and/or any number of other actions that might be performed with respect to medical image data. The system and methods may include image analysis, image rendering, image transformation, image enhancement, and/or other aspects to enable efficient and customized review of medical images.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of automated analysis of medical images, the method comprising:

by one or more processors executing program instructions;

accessing a set of medical image data;

automatically analyzing the set of medical image data by a CAP action to determine a value of an attribute of the set of medical image data;

accessing a user-defined rule indicating an association between the value of the attribute and a desired image slice thickness; and

applying the rule to the set of medical image data to render a series of medical images, wherein medical images of the series match the desired slice thickness.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

by one or more processors executing program instructions;

accessing a plurality of user-defined CAP rules;

identifying a CAP rule associated with the set of medical imaging data; and

determining the CAP action indicated by the rule.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the CAP rule is associated with the set of medical imaging data based on at least one of:

a modality, an anatomical region, or a medical indicator.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the attribute comprises at least one of:

a tissue density, or a presence of an abnormality or a suspected abnormality.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 further comprising:

by one or more processors executing program instructions;

identifying a possible abnormality based on the analyzing of the set of medical image data by the CAP action; and

fusing a group of medical images from the series of medical images in a region associated with the possible abnormality.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 further comprising:

by the one or more processors executing program instructions;

automatically initiating display of the group of medical images of the series of medical images at a computing device.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 further comprising:

by one or more processors executing program instructions;

determining a rendering location for rendering the series of medical images based on a second user-defined rule.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the second user-defined rule indicates at least one of:

a user associated with the user-defined rule, a location at which the series of medical images are to be displayed, or a characteristic of a device upon which the series of medical images to be displayed.

9. A system comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith; and

one or more processors configured to execute the program instructions to cause the one or more processors to;

access a set of medical image data;

automatically analyze the set of medical image data by a CAP action to determine a value of an attribute of the set of medical image data;

access a user-defined rule indicating an association between the value of the attribute and a desired image slice thickness; and

apply the rule to the set of medical image data to render a series of medical images, wherein medical images of the series match the desired slice thickness.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the program instructions to further cause the one or more processors to:

access a plurality of user-defined CAP rules;

identify a CAP rule associated with the set of medical imaging data; and

determine the CAP action indicated by the rule.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the CAP rule is associated with the set of medical imaging data based on at least one of:

a modality, an anatomical region, or a medical indicator.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the attribute comprises at least one of:

a tissue density, or a presence of an abnormality or a suspected abnormality.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the program instructions to further cause the one or more processors to:

identify a possible abnormality based on the analyzing of the set of medical image data by the CAP action; and

fuse a group of medical images from the series of medical images in a region associated with the possible abnormality.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the program instructions to further cause the one or more processors to:

automatically initiate display of the group of medical images of the series of medical images at a computing device.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the program instructions to further cause the one or more processors to:

determine a rendering location for rendering the series of medical images based on a second user-defined rule.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the second user-defined rule indicates at least one of:

a user associated with the user-defined rule, a location at which the series of medical images are to be displayed, or a characteristic of a device upon which the series of medical images to be displayed.

17. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to:

access a set of medical image data;

automatically analyze the set of medical image data by a CAP action to determine a value of an attribute of the set of medical image data;

access a user-defined rule indicating an association between the value of the attribute and a desired image slice thickness; and

apply the rule to the set of medical image data to render a series of medical images, wherein medical images of the series match the desired slice thickness.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the program instructions are executable by one or more processors to further cause the one or more processors to:

access a plurality of user-defined CAP rules;

identify a CAP rule associated with the set of medical imaging data; and

determine the CAP action indicated by the rule.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the program instructions are executable by one or more processors to further cause the one or more processors to:

identify a possible abnormality based on the analyzing of the set of medical image data by the CAP action; and

fuse a group of medical images from the series of medical images in a region associated with the possible abnormality.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the program instructions are executable by one or more processors to further cause the one or more processors to:

automatically initiate display of the group of medical images of the series of medical images at a computing device.