JPH11250160A - Medical image management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a medical image management system capable of accessing a required medical image by general operation without driving the system. SOLUTION: When an operator drags and drops an icon displayed on a window of a digital imaging and communication in medichine(DICOM) browser 43 on an icon displayed on a window of a file browser 42 based on an operating system(OS), a medical image drawing request corresponding to the dragged icon is outputted to a medical image data base based on the DICOM, a medical image sent from the medical image data base is received and stored in a hard disk 41 as a file based on the OS so as to correspond to the dropped icon. Consequently the operability of the system can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a medical image management system, and more particularly, to a medical image management system in which a medical image stored in a DICOM-compliant medical image database is retrieved using an OS-compliant file browser familiar to an operator. The present invention relates to a medical image management system that can store a medical image and a medical image management system that can store stored medical images in a DICOM-compliant medical image database using an OS-compliant file browser that an operator is familiar with.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A medical image management system is a system for receiving and managing medical images stored in a DICOM-compliant medical image database via a communication line. As conventional medical image management systems, for example, "Advantage Windows" and "RadWorks" manufactured by GE Yokogawa Medical System Co., Ltd. which operate on a workstation or a personal computer are known.

[0003]

The conventional medical image management systems have their own user interfaces and have different operation methods, so that there is a problem in operation. Furthermore, since each of them independently manages a medical image, a desired medical image cannot be accessed unless the corresponding medical image management system is operated. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a medical image management system that can access a desired medical image by a general operation without operating the corresponding medical image management system, thereby improving usability. .

[0004]

According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a method for storing storage information of files (including folders and directories) stored in a storage device managed by an OS (operating system) in a tree structure. OS-compliant file browser means to display in a window with DICOM (Digit
Inquiry means for inquiring and acquiring the accumulated information of medical images from a medical image database compliant with the Medical Imaging Database, and medical image accumulated information browsing means for displaying the acquired accumulated information in a window in a tree structure. Request for extracting a medical image corresponding to the dragged icon when the operator drags and drops the icon displayed in the window of the image storage information browsing unit onto the icon displayed in the window of the OS-compliant file browser unit. And a medical image receiving and storing means for receiving a medical image sent from the medical image database and storing the received medical image in the storage device in association with the dropped icon. Medical image characterized by comprising: Provide a management system. In the medical image management system according to the first aspect,
With a general operation called Drag & Drop, a medical image stored in a medical image database conforming to DICOM can be extracted and stored.
Furthermore, since it is stored in a file managed by the OS,
Even without operating the medical image management system, it is possible to access a desired medical image by using an OS-compliant file browser. Therefore, usability can be improved.

According to a second aspect, the present invention provides an OS that displays storage information of files (including folders and directories) stored in a storage device managed by an OS (Operating System) in a window in a tree structure. Compliant file browser means and DICOM (Digital Imaging and C
Inquiry means for inquiring and acquiring accumulated information of medical images from a medical image database compliant with Ommunication in Medicine, medical image accumulated information browsing means for displaying acquired accumulated information in a window in a tree structure, and the OS-compliant file browser File transmission means for transmitting a file corresponding to the dragged icon to the medical image database when an operator drags and drops an icon displayed on the window of the means on the window of the medical image storage information browsing means; The present invention provides a medical image management system characterized by comprising: In the medical image management system according to the second aspect,
DICOM is a general operation called drag and drop.
A file can be transmitted and stored in a medical image database conforming to the standard. Therefore, usability can be improved.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited by this. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a DICOM network system using a medical image management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This DIC
The OM network system 100 is an MRI (Magneti
c Resonance Imaging device and X-ray CT (Computed)
Tomography) device, ultrasonic diagnostic device, X-ray imaging device,
An image capturing apparatus 1 such as a gamma camera or PET (Positron Emission CT), a DICOM-compliant medical image database 2 for storing medical images captured by the image capturing apparatus 1, a communication line 3, and a communication line 3 Said DI
The medical image management system 4 is connected to the COM-compliant medical image database 2.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the medical image management system 4. This medical image management system 4
A hard disk 41 running on a workstation or a personal computer and managed by an OS such as Windows 95 or Windows NT, and storage information of files (including folders and directories) stored in the hard disk 41. Explorer-like O displayed in a window (Ws in FIG. 4) in a tree structure
A DICOM browser 43 having a communication function between the S-compliant file browser 42 and the DICOM-compliant medical image database 2 and displaying accumulated information acquired from the DICOM-compliant medical image database 2 in a tree structure in a window (Wd in FIG. 4). Is provided.

[0008] The DICOM browser 43 stores the DI
An inquiry unit 431 for inquiring the COM-compliant medical image database 2 for accumulated information of medical images and acquiring the acquired accumulated information, and a window of the acquired accumulated information in a tree structure (Wd in FIG. 4).
The user interface unit 432 displayed on the OS and the icon displayed on the window (Wd in FIG. 4)
Window of the compliant file browser 42 (Ws in FIG. 4)
An image requesting unit 433 for making a request for extracting a medical image corresponding to the dragged icon to the DICOM-compliant medical image database 2 when the operator drags and drops (when receiving) the icon displayed on the DICOM compliant medical image database 2
An image receiving unit 434 that receives a medical image sent from the DICOM-compliant medical image database 2 and stores the medical image in the hard disk 41 in association with the dropped icon; and a window of the OS-compliant file browser 42 (see FIG. 4 when the operator drags and drops (when sending) the icon displayed on the window (Ws in FIG. 4) onto the icon displayed on the window (Ws in FIG. 4), the file corresponding to the dragged icon is dropped on the icon. DI so that the icon is stored in correspondence with the icon
And an image transmitting unit 435 for transmitting to the COM-compliant medical image database 2.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the stored information browsing process executed by the DICOM browser 43. The stored information browsing process is started when an operator inputs inquiry information to the user interface unit 432. In step S1, the user interface unit 432 sends an inquiry request to the inquiry unit 431 based on the inquiry information input by the operator.
31 transmits an inquiry request for accumulated information (DICOM__Query) to the DICOM-compliant medical image database 2. In step S2, the inquiry unit 431 receives the accumulated information as the inquiry result from the DICOM-compliant medical image database 2 and sends the accumulated information to the user interface unit 432, and the user interface unit 432 converts the accumulated information into a tree structure in a window (Ws in FIG. 4). indicate.

FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of a screen of the medical image management system 4. The window Ws is a window of the OS-compliant file browser 42, in which the file configuration of the hard disk 41 is displayed in a tree structure. This file configuration can be arbitrarily created by the operator in accordance with the OS. The window Wd is a window of the DICOM browser 43, and displays accumulated information of medical images corresponding to inquiry information (here, patient name: KENICHI_INOUE) in a tree structure. The storage information structure is created independently by the DICOM-compliant medical image database 2.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the medical image receiving and storing process executed by the DICOM browser 43. As shown in FIG. 6, the medical image receiving and storing process is started when the operator drags and drops the icon displayed in the window Wd onto the icon displayed in the window Ws. In step R1, the user interface unit 432 acquires the drop destination from the OS-compliant file browser 42, and uses the drop destination as the image storage destination.
Notify 34. In step R2, the user interface unit 432 sends a request for extracting a medical image corresponding to the dragged icon (when the icon corresponds to an upper node of the medical image, all lower medical images of the node). Then, the image retrieval request unit 433 transmits the medical image retrieval request (DICOM_Retrieve) to the DICOM-compliant medical image database 2. In step R3, the image receiving unit 434
The medical image is received from the OM-compliant medical image database 2 (DICOM__Store), and is received by the user interface unit 4.
The image is stored in the file of the image storage destination notified from 32.
As described above, as shown in FIG. 7, the medical image (image 0) stored in the DICOM-compliant medical image database 2
3) can be copied to the hard disk 41. The above-mentioned drag and drop operation is a general file operation, and can be easily operated by anyone. The stored medical image is an OS-compliant file, and can be accessed using the familiar OS-compliant file browser 42 without operating the DICOM browser 43. Therefore, usability can be improved.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a medical image transmission process executed by the DICOM browser 43. This medical image transmission process is started when the operator drags and drops the icon displayed in the window Ws onto the window Wd, as shown in FIG. Step T1
Then, the user interface unit 432 acquires the drag source file from the OS-compliant file browser 42, and sends an image transmission request designating the file to the image transmission unit 435.
Send to In step T2, the image transmitting unit 435 reads out the designated medical image (when the icon corresponds to a higher-level node of the medical image, all lower-level medical images of the node) from the hard disk 41, and reads the DICOM-compliant medical image database. 2 (DICOM__Store).
As described above, the medical image stored in the hard disk 41 can be transferred to the DICOM-compliant medical image database 2. The above-described drag and drop operation is a general file operation, and can be easily performed by anyone.
Therefore, usability can be improved.

The DICOM-compliant medical image database 2 that has received the transferred medical image creates accumulated information from various types of information included in the medical image, and accumulates the medical image based on the accumulated information. Thus, for example, if a medical image of the same storage information is already stored and overwritten, the operator can easily update the medical image stored in the DICOM-compliant medical image database 2. become.

[0014]

According to the medical image management system of the present invention, the DIC is operated by a general operation called drag and drop.
Medical images stored in a medical image database conforming to OM can be extracted and stored. And OS
Is stored in a file managed by the OS, so that a desired medical image can be accessed using an OS-compliant file browser without operating the medical image management system. Further, the stored medical image can be transmitted to a DICOM-compliant medical image database by a general operation of drag and drop. Therefore, usability can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a DICOM network system using a medical image management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram of a medical image management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a stored information browsing process.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view of a screen of the medical image management system.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a medical image receiving and storing process.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a drag and drop operation at the time of reception.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a tree structure after storing a received medical image.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a medical image transmission process.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a drag-and-drop operation during transmission.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 image capturing device 2 DICOM-compliant medical image database 3 communication line 4 medical image management system 41 hard disk 42 OS-compliant file browser 43 DICOM browser 431 inquiry unit 432 user interface unit 433 image extraction request unit 434 image reception unit 435 image transmission unit Wd DICOM Browser window Ws OS-compliant file browser window

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. OS-compliant file browser means for displaying storage information of files (including folders and directories) stored in a storage device managed by an OS (Operating System) in a window in a tree structure;
COM (Digital Imaging and COmmunication in Medicin)
e) inquiry means for inquiring and acquiring medical image storage information from a medical image database conforming to e), medical image storage information browsing means for displaying the obtained storage information in a window in a tree structure, and the medical image storage information browsing means Icon displayed on the window of the OS
Medical image pull-out requesting means for requesting the medical image database to pull out a medical image corresponding to the dragged icon when the operator drags and drops the icon on the icon displayed in the window of the compliant file browser means; And a medical image receiving and storing means for receiving a medical image sent from the medical image database and storing the medical image in the storage device in correspondence with the dropped icon. 2. An OS-compliant file browser for displaying storage information of files (including folders and directories) stored in a storage device managed by an OS (Operating System) in a window in a tree structure;
COM (Digital Imaging and COmmunication in Medicin)
e) an inquiry unit for inquiring and acquiring medical image storage information from a medical image database conforming to e), a medical image storage information browsing unit for displaying the acquired storage information in a window in a tree structure, and an OS-compliant file browser unit. File transmitting means for transmitting a file corresponding to the dragged icon to the medical image database when an operator drags and drops an icon displayed on the window onto the window of the medical image accumulated information browsing means. A medical image management system, characterized in that: