Eye portion diagnosis support apparatus, method therefor, program, and recording medium

• US 7,857,449 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2010
• Issued: 12/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Imamura, Hiroshi, Katayama, Akihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Mai; Huy K
• Application Number:
  US12/769,401
• Publication Number:
  US 20100208204A1
• Time in Patent Office: 244 Days
• Field of Search: 351/205, 351/206, 351/210, 351/246
• US Class Current: 351/205
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/102 for optical coherence tomography [OCT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/12 for looking at the eye fundus, e.g. ophthalmoscopes A61B3/13 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/1225 using coherent radiation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/14 Arrangements specially adapted for eye photography apparatus or arrangements for taking photographs per se G03B
• 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

Abstract

There is provided a technique for efficiently acquiring a tomogram of an eye portion. A diagnosis support apparatus includes a wide-area image acquisition means for acquiring a wide-area image of an eye portion, a detection means for detecting a lesion candidate on the eye portion by analyzing the wide-area image acquired by the wide-area image acquisition means, a determination means for determining a parameter associated with acquisition of a tomogram of the eye portion, based on a lesion candidate detection result obtained by the detection means, and a tomogram acquisition means for acquiring a tomogram of the eye portion based on the parameter determined by the determination means.

Claims

1. A diagnosis support apparatus comprising:

a wide-area image acquisition unit adapted to acquire a wide-area image of an eye portion;

a detection unit adapted to detect a lesion candidate on the eye portion by analyzing the wide-area image acquired by said wide-area image acquisition unit;

a determination unit adapted to determine a parameter associated with acquisition of a tomogram of the eye portion, based on a lesion candidate detection result obtained by said detection unit; and

a tomogram acquisition unit adapted to acquire a tomogram of the eye portion based on the parameter determined by said determination unit.

2. The diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said detection unit detects at least one of presence/absence of a lesion candidate, a type of lesion candidate, a range of a lesion candidate, and a degree of a lesion candidate.

3. The diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said determination unit determines the parameter based on at least one of a type and range of a detected lesion candidate.

4. The diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the parameter determined by said determination unit includes information indicating necessity/unnecessity of the tomogram acquisition.

5. The diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said determination unit determines necessity/unnecessity of the tomogram acquisition based on at least one of a seriousness and an occurrence region of a predetermined lesion candidate.

6. The diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said tomogram acquisition unit acquires no tomogram when the parameter includes information indicating that the tomogram acquisition is unnecessary.

7. The diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the parameter determined by said determination unit includes information indicating a region of a tomogram to be acquired.

8. The diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the parameter determined by said determination unit includes information including at least one of a spatial range of a tomogram to be acquired, a resolution, and a scanning method.

9. The diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display control unit adapted to cause a monitor to display at least one of a wide-area image acquired by said wide-area image acquisition unit and a tomogram acquired by said tomogram acquisition unit.

10. The diagnosis support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a saving unit adapted to save the parameter determined by said determination unit in a storage unit in association with the wide-area image acquired by said wide-area image acquisition unit, when said tomogram acquisition unit has acquired no tomogram.

11. A program for causing a computer to function as a diagnosis support apparatus defined in claim 1.

12. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program defined in claim 11.

13. A diagnosis support apparatus comprising:

a wide-area image acquisition unit adapted to acquire a wide-area image of an eye portion;

a detection unit adapted to detect a lesion candidate on the eye portion by analyzing the wide-area image acquired by said wide-area image acquisition unit;

a determination unit adapted to determine a parameter associated with acquisition of a tomogram of the eye portion, based on a lesion candidate detection result obtained by said detection unit; and

a saving unit adapted to save the parameter determined by said determination unit in a storage unit in association with the wide-area image acquired by said wide-area image acquisition unit.

14. A diagnosis support method for a diagnosis support apparatus, comprising:

at a wide-area acquisition unit, a wide-area image acquisition step of acquiring a wide-area image of an eye portion;

at a detection unit, a detection step of detecting a lesion candidate on the eye portion by analyzing the wide-area image acquired in the wide-area image acquisition step;

at a determination unit, a determination step of determining a parameter associated with acquisition of a tomogram of the eye portion based on a lesion candidate detection result obtained in the detection step; and

at a tomogram acquisition unit, a tomogram acquisition step of acquiring a tomogram of the eye portion based on the parameter determined in determination step.

15. A diagnosis support method for a diagnosis support apparatus, comprising:

at a wide-area image acquisition unit, a wide-area image acquisition step of acquiring a wide-area image of an eye portion;

at a detection unit, a detection step of detecting a lesion candidate on the eye portion by analyzing the wide-area image acquired in the wide-area image acquisition step;

at a determination unit, a determination step of determining a parameter associated with acquisition of a tomogram of the eye portion, based on a lesion candidate detection result obtained in the detection step; and

at a saving unit, a saving step of saving the parameter determined in the determination step in a storage unit in association with the wide-area image acquired in the wide-area image acquisition step.