JP6556426B2 - Report creation device - Google Patents

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to a report creation apparatus.

  There is a report creation device for creating an interpretation report. A user such as a medical worker attaches a DICOM image displayed by the viewer function as a key image to a radiogram interpretation report by a drag and drop operation in the report creation apparatus. The DICOM image and the interpretation report are displayed on different display devices. When a DICOM image is dragged and dropped from a display device for DICOM images to a display device for interpretation reports, the movement distance of the mouse is long, so it takes time to paste the key image into the interpretation report. Is bad. Further, when a large number of DICOM images are pasted as key images in an interpretation report, the above drag and drop must be repeated for the number of images, and the interpretation efficiency is further reduced.

  An object of the embodiment is to provide a report creation apparatus that can improve interpretation efficiency when creating an interpretation report.

  The report creation apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a display unit that displays an interpretation report on a patient to be interpreted, an input unit that receives an input operation on the interpretation report, and an examination that is input to the interpretation report via the input unit. An extraction unit that extracts a character string related to a predetermined item for specifying a medical image from information or finding information, and a related medical image related to the extracted character string is extracted from a plurality of medical images related to the patient to be interpreted And a pasting unit for pasting a key image of the identified related medical image to the interpretation report.

The figure which shows the network environment of the report preparation apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. The figure which shows the data structure of the DICOM image managed by the medical image storage apparatus of FIG. The figure which shows the structure of the report preparation apparatus of FIG. The figure which shows an example of the dictionary memorize | stored by the dictionary memory | storage part of FIG. The figure which shows the typical flow of the report preparation process performed by control of the control part of FIG. The figure which shows the example of a display of the image display screen and report preparation screen which are displayed by the display part in FIG.5 S1. FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating candidate image (DICOM image) specifying processing performed by a medical image specifying unit in step S4 of FIG. 5. The figure which shows typically the other example of the specific process of the candidate image (DICOM image) performed by the medical image specific | specification part in step S4 of FIG. The figure which shows the example of a display of the candidate display window performed by the display part in step S6 of FIG. The figure for demonstrating the sticking process of the key image performed by the sticking part in FIG.5 S8. The figure which shows an example of the priority table managed by the priority determination part of FIG. The figure which shows the example of a display of the reduced image by the display part which concerns on the application example of this embodiment.

  The report creation apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a network environment of a report creation apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the report creation apparatus 1 is connected to the medical image storage apparatus 3 via a network such as a LAN (local area network). The medical image storage device 3 stores a plurality of medical images related to a plurality of patients in a predetermined data format. For example, the medical image is managed in a data format conforming to the DICOM (digital imaging and communication in medicine) standard. Hereinafter, a medical image having a data format conforming to the DICOM standard will be referred to as a DICOM image.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of a DICOM image. As shown in FIG. 2, DICOM image data is managed in association with incidental information. The DICOM image data and the accompanying information constitute a DICOM image file. The incidental information functions as metadata of DICOM image data. As is well known, in the DICOM standard, incidental information is managed hierarchically into patient information, examination information, series information, and image information. Patient information is information about a patient who is a subject of a DICOM image. As patient information, a patient's name, ID, etc. are shown, for example. The examination information is information relating to the examination for the patient. Examples of the inspection information include an inspection ID, an inspection type, an inspection date, an inspection site, and the like. The series information is information related to the series in the inspection. Examples of the series information include a series ID and a series type. Image information is information relating to images collected by examination or series. Examples of the image information include an image ID and an image type. The inspection type indicates the type of photographing modality of the DICOM image. Specifically, CT (X-ray computed tomography apparatus), MR (magnetic resonance diagnostic apparatus), US (ultrasound diagnostic apparatus), etc. are mentioned as a test | inspection type. The inspection date is the shooting date of the DICOM image. The examination part is a part to be imaged of the DICOM image. Specifically, examples of the examination site include the abdomen, chest, and head. The image type indicates a photographing protocol for DICOM images. Examples of MR imaging protocols include DWI (diffusion weighted image), FLAIR (fluid attenuated inversion recovery), T1-weighted image, and T2-weighted image.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the report creation apparatus 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the report creation apparatus 1 has a communication unit 13, an input unit 15, a display unit 17, an image display device 19, a report display device 21, a main storage unit 23, An information processing unit 25 is included.

  The communication unit 13 performs information communication with the medical image storage device 3 via a network. For example, the communication unit 13 receives a DICOM image related to a patient to be interpreted from the medical image storage device 3. The input unit 15 receives various instructions from the user via the input device. For example, the input unit 15 receives an input operation for an interpretation report. As the input device, a selection device such as a pointing device such as a mouse or a trackball, a keyboard, or the like can be used as appropriate. The display unit 17 displays various information on the image display device 19 or the report display device 21. The image display device 19 is a high-resolution display device for displaying a DICOM image for image interpretation. The report display device 21 is a display device used for creating an interpretation report. As the display device, for example, a CRT display, a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, a plasma display, or the like can be used as appropriate. The main storage unit 23 is a storage device such as a semiconductor storage device or an HDD (hard disk drive). The main storage unit 23 stores, for example, the DICOM image received from the medical image storage device 3 by the communication unit 13. The main storage unit 23 also stores a program for displaying DICOM images (hereinafter referred to as a viewer program) and a program for generating an interpretation report (hereinafter referred to as a report creation program).

  The information processing unit 25 creates an interpretation report according to control by the control unit 11. Specifically, the information processing unit 25 includes a character string extraction unit 251, a medical image specification unit 252, a dictionary storage unit 253, a reduced image generation unit 254, a pasting unit 255, and a priority determination unit 256.

  The character string extraction unit 251 extracts a character string related to a predetermined item for specifying a DICOM image from examination information or findings information input to an interpretation report related to an interpretation target patient via the input unit 15. Hereinafter, the predetermined item is referred to as an image specifying item. The image specifying item is typically an information item included in the incidental information. Examples of such image specifying items include examination type, examination date, examination site, and image type (protocol). The image specifying item is not limited to the information item included in the accompanying information. Examples of such image specifying items include information items that can estimate information items included in the accompanying information. Specifically, the temporal relationship between examinations can be mentioned. Examples of the temporal relationship between examinations include “previous”, “previous”, “current”, and the like. The phrase of the image specific item is registered in a dictionary of the dictionary storage unit 253 described later.

  The medical image specifying unit 252 specifies a DICOM image related to the character string extracted by the character string extracting unit 251 from a plurality of DICOM images related to the patient to be interpreted. More specifically, the medical image specifying unit 252 specifies a DICOM image from the character string extracted by the character string extracting unit 251 using a database or a lookup table (LUT) stored in the dictionary storage unit 253. To do.

  The dictionary storage unit 253 stores, for each of a plurality of words / phrases related to the image specifying item, a database or LUT in which synonyms of the word / phrase are associated. The association between a phrase and a synonym may be defined by a database or LUT. Hereinafter, the database and the LUT are not distinguished from each other and are collectively referred to as a dictionary.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a dictionary stored in the dictionary storage unit 253. As shown in FIG. 4, the dictionary associates IDs, registered phrases, and synonyms. ID is an identification number of a registered phrase. The registered phrase is a general phrase that is typically registered in the accompanying information. A synonym is a phrase that is synonymous with a registered term of the same ID. For example, as a synonym for the registered phrase “body”, “body”, “whole body”, “body”, and the like can be given. Even when the equivalent content is expressed, the term may differ depending on the manufacturer of the medical device such as the modality or the report creation device. Moreover, the term used according to a medical facility may differ. In such a case, a general phrase may be input as the registered phrase, and a phrase used in the manufacturer or medical facility may be input as the synonym.

  The reduced image generating unit 254 generates a reduced image of the DICOM image specified by the medical image specifying unit 252. The reduced image is used as a key image. As is well known, the key image means an image that serves as a basis for findings by a doctor.

  The pasting unit 255 pastes the key image of the DICOM image specified by the medical image specifying unit 252 to the interpretation report. More specifically, when the pasting operation is performed on the DICOM image to be pasted via the input unit 15, the pasting unit 255 pastes the key image of the medical image to be pasted on the key image column of the interpretation report.

  When a plurality of DICOM images are specified by the medical image specifying unit 252, the priority determining unit 256 determines the priority of the plurality of DICOMs. The priority is synonymous with the certainty of the relationship between the character string and the DICOM image by the character string extraction unit 251.

  The control unit 11 functions as the center of the report creation device 1. The control unit 11 includes a central processing unit (CPU) and a random access memory (RAM). The control unit 11 reads out and executes the viewer program stored in the main storage unit 23, and issues a command to each unit in order to execute the viewer function described by the viewer program. In addition, the control unit 11 reads and executes the report creation program stored in the main storage unit 23, and issues a command to each unit to execute the report creation function described by the report creation program.

  Hereinafter, an operation example of the report creation process performed under the control of the control unit 11 according to the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a typical flow of the report creation process executed under the control of the control unit 11. First, the control unit 11 causes the display unit 17 to perform display processing (step S1). Specifically, first, the user inputs an image display instruction via the input unit 15. The control unit 11 executes the viewer program in response to an instruction to display an image via the input unit 15 by the user. First, the display unit 17 displays an image display screen on the image display device 19. The user inputs a DICOM image acquisition request regarding the patient to be interpreted via the input unit 15. The communication unit 13 acquires a DICOM image corresponding to the acquisition request from the medical image storage device 3 via the network. The acquired DICOM image is stored in the main storage unit 23. The display unit 17 displays the acquired DICOM image on the image display device 19. Further, the control unit 11 executes the report creation program in response to a report creation instruction made by the user via the input unit 15. The display unit 17 displays a report creation screen on the report display device 21.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of the image display screen DI and the report creation screen DR. As shown in FIG. 6, the image display screen DI has an image display area Ri. In the image display area Ri, a DICOM image ID related to a patient to be interpreted is displayed. The report creation screen DR has a patient information display area Rp, an examination information display area Rs, a finding display area Rf, and a key image display area Rk. Patient information associated with the DICOM image ID is displayed in the patient information display area RP. In the examination information display area Rs, examination information associated with the DICOM image ID is displayed. In the finding display area Rf, a character string representing a finding input by the user via the input unit 15 is displayed. In the key image display area Rk, the key image of the DICOM image ID is pasted by the pasting unit 255. More specifically, the key image display area Rk includes a plurality of key image pasting areas Rrk. A key image is affixed to each of the plurality of key image affixing regions Rrk.

  When step S1 is performed, the control unit 11 waits for a character string to be input to the examination information display area or the observation display area via the input unit 15 (step S2). When the report creation screen DR is displayed, the user inputs a character string representing examination information in the examination information display area via the input unit 15 or inputs a character string representing findings in the finding display area. . For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the user inputs a character string such as “CT examination of XXXX year YY month ZZ...” In the finding display area Rf.

  When a character string is input to the examination information display area or the observation display area in step S2, the control unit 11 causes the character string extraction unit 251 to perform extraction processing (step S3). In step S3, the character string extraction unit 251 extracts a character string related to the image specifying item from the character string described in the examination information display area or the observation display area. The extraction timing of the character string is good when the input character string is confirmed. The character string input via the input unit 15 is initially in an unconfirmed state, and is confirmed, for example, when a confirmation button such as an enter key is pressed. When the confirmation button is pressed, the character string extraction unit 251 extracts a character string related to an image specific item registered in advance among the confirmed character strings. The character string related to the image specifying item is, for example, a registered word or synonym registered in the dictionary. That is, the character string extraction unit 251 extracts a registered word or synonym registered in the dictionary from a plurality of words constituting the extracted character string. Thereby, the character string regarding the image specifying item is extracted. Note that the character string extraction timing is not limited to the timing when the confirmation button is pressed. For example, the character string extraction unit 251 may extract a character string selected by the user via the input unit 15 from among the confirmed character strings.

  When step S3 is performed, the control unit 11 causes the medical image specifying unit 252 to perform a specifying process (step S4). In step S4, the medical image specifying unit 252 specifies the DICOM image related to the character string extracted in step S3 from the plurality of DICOM images related to the patient to be interpreted. The DICOM image specified by the medical image specifying unit 252 is a key image candidate. Therefore, the DICOM image specified by the medical image specifying unit 252 is referred to as a candidate image.

  Hereinafter, the specifying process by the medical image specifying unit 252 will be described in detail. First, when the character string extracted by the character string extraction unit 251 is a registered word, the medical image specification unit 252 uses the word / phrase as a keyword to add information of a plurality of DICOM images related to the patient to be interpreted. And the DICOM image associated with the incidental information including the keyword is specified as a candidate image. When the extracted character string is a synonym, the medical image specifying unit 252 searches the incidental information of a plurality of DICOM images related to the patient to be interpreted using the registered word associated with the word as a keyword, and searches for the keyword. A DICOM image associated with the accompanying information included is specified as a candidate image. Typically, the key image is selected from the DICOM images displayed by the image display device 19. Therefore, the medical image specifying unit 252 may specify a candidate image from among a plurality of DICOM images displayed by the image display device 19 and a plurality of DICOM images stored in the main storage unit 23. This makes it possible to efficiently search for candidate images. Note that the search range of DICOM images is not limited to the above, and the medical image specifying unit 252 may specify candidate images from a plurality of DICOM images stored in the medical image storage device 3.

  When a plurality of words / phrases belonging to the image specifying item are specified in the extracted character string, a DICOM image associated with the accompanying information including all the specified words / phrases may be specified as a candidate image.

  The medical image specifying unit 252 does not necessarily need to specify a candidate image using a dictionary. When the image specifying item is an examination date or the like, the medical image specifying unit 252 may search for incidental information using the examination date in the character string as a keyword without using a dictionary. Further, when the image specifying item is the temporal relevance between examinations, the medical image specifying unit 252 specifies a candidate image from the interpretation target examination based on the character string related to the temporal relevance between examinations in the character string. . For example, when the character string relating to the temporal relationship between examinations is “previous”, the medical image identification unit 252 identifies the DICOM image relating to the first examination as a candidate image retroactively from the examination date of the interpretation target examination.

  In the finding display area Rf, sentences corresponding to a plurality of key images may be input. Therefore, as described above, the key image can be specified in any sentence unit by specifying the candidate image at the timing when the character string input via the input unit 15 is confirmed. When sentences corresponding to a plurality of key images are determined at a time, the medical image specifying unit 252 divides a character string constituting the sentence into predetermined sentence structure units, and selects candidate images for each of the sentence structure units. Identify. Examples of the sentence structure unit include one paragraph unit and one sentence unit.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically illustrating candidate image specifying processing by the medical image specifying unit 252. As shown in FIG. 7, in step S3, the inspection date “XXXX year YY month ZZ day” and the inspection type in the character string “XXXX year YY month ZZ CT date in the observation display area Rf” It is assumed that “CT” is extracted. The inspection date and the inspection type belong to different image specifying items. As described above, when a plurality of words belonging to different image specifying items are included in a character string, a DICOM image associated with incidental information including all of the plurality of words may be specified. In the case of FIG. 7, in this case, the DICOM image I1 including the inspection date “XXXX year YY month ZZ day” and the inspection type “CT” in the incidental information is specified from the plurality of DICOM images within the search range. In step S3, it is assumed that the examination site “abdomen” is extracted from the character string “..., Abdomen ...” in the finding display area Rf. In this case, the DICOM image I2 including the examination site “abdomen” in the incidental information is specified from the plurality of DICOM images within the search range.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically illustrating another example of the candidate image specifying process performed by the medical image specifying unit 252. As shown in FIG. 8, in step S3, the examination part “right frontal lobe” in the character string “previous (2/14) DWI, FLAIR of right frontal lobe” in the observation display area Rf, between examinations Assume that the temporal relevance “previous”, the examination date “February 14”, the image type “DWI”, and the image type “FLAIR” are extracted. The image type “DWI” and the image type “FLAIR” are registered words belonging to the same item. As described above, when a plurality of words belonging to the same image specifying item are included in the character string, the DICOM image may be specified individually for each of the plurality of words. Therefore, the medical image specifying unit 252 selects the DICOM image I3 including the examination region “right frontal lobe”, the examination date “February 14”, and the image type “DWI” as supplementary information from the plurality of DICOM images within the search range. The medical image specifying unit 252 specifies the DICOM image I4 including the examination site “right frontal lobe”, the examination date “February 14”, and the image type “FLAIR” as incidental information of a plurality of DICOM images within the search range. Identify from the inside.

  When step S4 is performed, the control unit 11 causes the reduced image generation unit 254 to perform reduction processing (step S5). In step S5, the reduced image generation unit 254 performs an existing image reduction process on the candidate image specified in step S4 to generate a reduced image. The reduced image has a smaller matrix size and lower image quality than the candidate image (DICOM image).

  When step S5 is performed, the control unit 11 causes the display unit 17 to perform display processing (step S6). In step S6, the display unit 17 displays a reduced image of the candidate image (DICOM image) specified in step S4 on the candidate display window in step S5.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the candidate display window Wc by the display unit 17. As shown in FIG. 9, a candidate display window Wc is pop-up displayed in the finding display area Rf. In the observation display area Rf, the reduced image Ir of the candidate image specified in step S4 is displayed. In the case of FIG. 9, the reduced image Ir3 of the DICOM image I3 and the reduced image Ir4 of the DICOM image I4 associated with the character string included in the finding display area Rf are displayed. The display location of the candidate display window Wc is preferably displayed in the vicinity of the key image display region Rk for the purpose of simplifying the pasting operation described later. In other words, the candidate display window Wc should not be displayed on the image display screen DI in which the key image display area Rk is not displayed in order to simplify the pasting operation. For example, the candidate display window Wc may be displayed in the finding display area Rf.

  When step S6 is performed, the control unit 11 waits for a pasting operation to be performed on the reduced image in the candidate display window (step S7). The user observes a plurality of reduced images displayed in the candidate display window Wc, and determines a reduced image to be a key image from the plurality of reduced images. Then, the user performs a pasting operation on the determined reduced image via the input unit 15. The pasting operation is an operation for pasting an arbitrary reduced image among a plurality of reduced images displayed in the candidate display window Wc to the key image display region Rk. For example, the pasting operation is realized by drag and drop. In this case, the user moves the mouse cursor Cu on an arbitrary reduced image displayed in the candidate display window Wc and presses the left button of the mouse to select the reduced image. Then, by moving the mouse while pressing the left button of the mouse, the user moves the reduced image to the key image pasting area Rrk of the key image display area Rk, and releases the left button of the mouse after the movement. This completes the pasting operation.

  The pasting operation is not limited to drag and drop. For example, an arbitrary reduced image may be selected with a mouse or the like, and automatically pasted on an arbitrary key image pasting area Rrk in the key image display area Rk. In this case, the reduced image may be selected by any method such as pressing the left mouse button or pressing the enter button on the keyboard.

  When the pasting operation is performed (step S7: YES), the control unit 11 causes the pasting unit 255 to perform the pasting process (step S8). The pasting unit 255 pastes the reduced image to be pasted as a key image to the key image display area Rk.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining key image pasting processing by the pasting unit 255. As shown in FIG. 10, reduced images Ir3 and Ir4 of candidate images specified by the medical image specifying unit 252 are displayed in the candidate display window Wc. For example, when the pasting operation is performed on the reduced image Ir3 by the drag and drop, the reduced image Ir3 is pasted as a key image to the key image pasting region Rrk where the left button of the mouse is released. The affixed reduced image Ir3 is displayed by being inserted into the key image affixing region Rrk by the display unit 17. The reduced image on which the pasting operation has been performed is associated with the interpretation report as a key image. The display unit 17 may automatically display a candidate image corresponding to the reduced image on which the pasting operation has been performed on the image display screen DI of the image display device 19. Thereby, the user can observe the key image at the original resolution without the trouble of selecting the candidate image.

  This completes the report creation process executed under the control of the control unit 11.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when a key image is pasted on an interpretation report, the report creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment displays a DICOM image related to a character string of examination information or observation information in the interpretation report. It can be automatically identified and a reduced image of the identified DICOM image can be automatically presented to the user. The user may select a key image from the presented reduced images. Therefore, the report creation apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment improves the efficiency of the key image selection work as compared to the conventional case where the key image is selected from the plurality of DICOM images displayed on the image display device 19. To do. Further, the report creation apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment displays the candidate display window in a superimposed manner on the report creation screen of the report display device 21 instead of the image display device 19. The user drags and drops the reduced image from the candidate display window in the report creation screen to the key image display area. Therefore, the report creation apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has a shorter drag-and-drop distance than the conventional drag-and-drop operation from the image display screen of the image display device to the report creation screen of the report display device. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the labor of the pasting work.

  The flow of the above report creation process is an example and is not limited to the flow shown in FIG. For example, a reduction image pasting operation is not essential. That is, the pasting unit 255 may automatically paste the reduced image of the medical image specified by the medical image specifying unit 252 in step S4 to the key image display region Rk. Thereby, the pasting operation by the user can be omitted, and the creation efficiency of the interpretation report is improved. At this time, the display of the candidate display window Wc in step S6 can be omitted. The display unit 17 may automatically display the medical image specified by the medical image specifying unit 252 in step S4 on the image display device 19. Thereby, the trouble of selecting the DICOM image to be displayed on the image display device 19 can be reduced.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to improve the interpretation efficiency related to the creation of an interpretation report.

(Application examples)
The report creating apparatus 1 according to the application example displays a reduced image of a plurality of DICOM images (candidate images) specified by the medical image specifying unit 252 in a layout corresponding to the priority when displaying the reduced images in the candidate display window. Hereinafter, the report creation apparatus 1 according to the application example will be described. In the following description, components having substantially the same functions as those in the above embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and redundant description is provided only when necessary.

  When a plurality of candidate images are specified by the medical image specifying unit 252 in step S4 of FIG. 5, the priority determining unit 256 includes a plurality of items included in a character string that expresses examination information or finding information for each of the plurality of candidate images. Analyze the words and determine the priority. Specifically, the priority determination unit 256 determines the priority by applying a priority table to the character string of the image specifying item included in the character string.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a priority table managed by the priority determination unit 256. As shown in FIG. 11, the priority table is a database or LUT in which an item ID and a weight value are associated with each image specific item. The weight value has a high value if the image specifying item is highly important as a key image determining factor. For example, the weight value of the “inspection type” of the item ID “1” is set to “20”. The weight value can be set in advance by the user or the like via the input unit 15.

  As described above, the medical image specifying unit 252 specifies a character string of an image specifying item included in a character string representing examination information or finding information, and specifies a DICOM image related to the specified character string as a candidate image. To do. For each candidate image, the priority determination unit 256 specifies the weight value assigned to the image specifying item of the character string specified by the medical image specifying unit 252 using the priority table and calculates the weight value. For example, when the candidate image A is the examination type “CT” and the examination date “2013/1/10”, the weight value of the candidate image A is “70”. In this way, the priority determination unit 256 determines the priority for each candidate image.

  When the priority is determined, the display unit 17 restricts the reduced image to be displayed in the candidate display window according to the priority regarding the plurality of candidate images. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a reduced image by the display unit 17. As shown in FIG. 12, a candidate display window Wc is displayed on the report creation screen of the report display device 21. The display unit 17 arranges the reduced images Ir in the candidate display window Wc according to the priority order of the corresponding candidate images. For example, in the candidate display window Wc, the reduced image Ir5, the reduced image Ir6, the reduced image Ir7, and the reduced image Ir8 are arranged from the left in order from the highest priority. By arranging the reduced images according to the priority order in this way, it becomes possible to easily determine candidate images that are highly likely to match the examination information and finding information input by the user, Can help with selection.

  Note that the pasting unit 255 may paste a reduced image of the candidate images within the order in which the priorities are determined in advance in the key image display area. For example, the pasting unit 255 may paste a reduced image of the candidate image having the highest priority on the key image display area. Note that the rank of the display target is not limited to the first, but can be set to an arbitrary rank by the user, such as the top three. As a result, a reduced image having a high possibility of a key image can be automatically pasted on an interpretation report, so that the key image pasting work can be simplified and the key image selecting work can be shortened. .

(Modification)
In the above embodiment, it is assumed that the DICOM image is displayed on the image display device 19 when the interpretation report is created. However, this embodiment is not limited to this. The report creation apparatus 1 according to the modification of the present embodiment displays a DICOM image corresponding to the character string entered in the interpretation report on the image display device 19. For example, if the user is troublesome to select a DICOM image to be displayed on the image display device 19, he / she remembers the contents of the DICOM image in his / her head and uses the input unit 15 to input the findings and examination information text into the interpretation report. May be filled in. In this case, the character string extracting unit 251 extracts a character string related to the image specifying item from the character string entered via the input unit 15 as described in the above embodiment, and the medical image specifying unit 252 According to the form, the DICOM image (candidate image) related to the extracted character string is specified. The display unit 27 automatically displays the DICOM image specified by the medical image specifying unit 252 on the image display screen of the image display device. For example, when a character string “Previous examination is ...” is input to the observation display area, the DICOM image of the previous examination is automatically displayed on the image display device 19. Thus, by automatically displaying the DICOM image related to the content of the character string entered by the user via the input unit 15, the selection work of the DICOM image to be interpreted by the user can be reduced. .

  When a plurality of DICOM images are specified by the medical image specifying unit 252, the priority determining unit 256 determines the priority of each of the plurality of DICOM images as described in the above embodiment, and the display unit 17 DICOM images may be displayed in the order of priority. At this time, the display unit 17 may display only the DICOM images whose priority is within a prescribed order. Further, the pasting unit 255 may paste the DICOM image specified by the medical image specifying unit 252 to the interpretation report as described in the above embodiment.

  Thus, according to the modification of this embodiment, it is possible to improve the interpretation efficiency related to the creation of an interpretation report, more specifically, the image reference efficiency by the viewer function.

  Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Report preparation apparatus, 3 ... Medical image storage apparatus, 11 ... Control part, 13 ... Communication part, 15 ... Input part, 17 ... Display part, 19 ... Display apparatus for images, 21 ... Display apparatus for reports, 23 ... Main Storage unit 25 ... Information processing unit 251 ... Character string extraction unit 252 ... Medical image specifying unit 253 ... Dictionary storage unit 254 ... Reduced image generation unit 255 ... Pasting unit 256 ... Priority determining unit

Claims (11)

A display unit for displaying an interpretation report about the patient to be interpreted;
An input unit for receiving an input operation for the interpretation report;
An extraction unit that extracts a character string related to a predetermined item for specifying a medical image from examination information or finding information input to the interpretation report via the input unit;
A specifying unit for specifying a related medical image having accompanying information related to the extracted character string from the accompanying information of a plurality of medical images related to the patient to be interpreted;
A pasting unit for pasting the reduced image of the identified related medical image to the candidate display area;
Equipped with,
The pasting unit receives a pasting operation by the user via the input unit with respect to the reduced image, and pastes the reduced image that is the target of the pasting operation as a key image to the interpretation report . The display unit includes a first display device for displaying the interpretation report and a second display device for displaying a medical image,
The display unit displays the candidate display area on the first display device.
The report creation apparatus according to claim 1 . The report creating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the display unit displays the candidate display area in a finding display area of the interpretation report. In the case where a plurality of related medical images related to the extracted character string are specified by the specifying unit, the display unit prioritizes a reduced image to be displayed in the candidate display area with respect to the plurality of related medical images. The report creation device according to claim 1 , wherein the report creation device is limited according to the degree. The report according to claim 4 , further comprising: a priority determination unit that analyzes the plurality of phrases included in the character string representing the examination information or the finding information for each of the plurality of related medical images and determines the priority. Creation device. The report creating apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the display unit arranges and displays the plurality of reduced images according to the priority order.   The report creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined item is at least one of an examination type, an examination date, an examination site, an image type, and a temporal relationship between examinations.   The extraction unit is configured to read the character string when a sentence input to the interpretation report is confirmed via the input unit or when an extraction operation is performed by a user via the input unit. The report creation device according to claim 1, wherein the report creation device is extracted.   The specifying unit is the plurality of medical images stored in a storage device of the own device, the plurality of medical images stored in a server device connected via a network, or the plurality of images displayed by the display unit. The report creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the related medical image is specified from among the medical images.   The report creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the related medical image.   The said specific | specification part specifies the said related medical image about the character string regarding the said predetermined item for every predetermined text structure unit which comprises the text contained in the test | inspection information or observation information input into the said interpretation report. The report generator described.