The invention is related to the field of the visualisation, processing and analysis of medical images and to the methods of visualisation of the same.
In the medical field, tools such as RX, Magnetic Resonance, Cat scan and other diagnostic means used to create images of structures and tissues inside the human body are always more employed.
These images are generally printed on special supports, normally transparent film, and are consulted, on proper devices, through transillumination.
The diagnostic systems of last generation are able to produce and to memorize images without using press supports and are able to directly provide the produced images to digital stations of visualisation.
These stations consist of one or more monitors connected to a computer system that is able to check, manipulate and process the visualized image.
This kind of stations allow to work with traditional images that have been stored on traditional supports, by scanning them in order to convert them into digital format. Nevertheless these digital stations of visualisation still result quite complicated to use for the majority of the users and they require additional operations for the analysis of the complete image. In fact the digital image reproduced on a screen (“softcopy”) has a spatial resolution (number of elementary information reproduced) and a grey levels resolution (number of colour tones) lower than the corresponding resolutions of the printout on transparent film (“hardcopy”); as a consequence, the operator/user is forced to cope with the lower resolution by using electronic tools of manipulation of the digital image such as the enlargement (“zooming”), the dissection of the grey levels (“windowing”, “leveling”), etc.
This has negative consequences on the rapidity of the images consultation, a very important parameter in this activity.
Moreover in the diagnostic process a fundamental element is the accuracy or rather the correct interpretation of the medical condition which results from the displayed image.
The user interface of the current digital stations of visualisation forces the doctor to move his gaze out of the image under examination in order to interact with a toolbar using the mouse or the keyboard. Therefore, the diagnosis executed using the “softcopy” of the image related to a clinical test may require a longer time with respect to the analysis of the “hardcopy”, and it also causes the radiologist to look away from the interest region of the image and this can represent a reason for inattention producing a negative effect on the accuracy of the diagnosis.
Moreover, the use of the above-mentioned stations necessarily involves a preventive training of the user that obviously requires some time and represents a further obstacle to the diffusion of this kind of systems in the medical field. This preliminary training must not be directed only to the commands usage of the station of visualisation but also to allow the user to know how to catch the important details in the digital images displayed so as to reach correct conclusions and diagnosis.
Among the workstations equipped with so-called eye-tracking devices, capable of detecting the direction of the user gaze, methods are known, in the state of the art, to survey visual exploration—also known as “scanpath”—carried out by the user/operator. These methods define an ideal path of visual exploration through, for instance, the analysis of the position, of the duration and of the sequence of the fixations performed by the subject in order to be able to discriminate, according to the type of obtained scanpath, the exploratory ability of the subject and therefore its level of training.
It is clear how, according to these information, is possible to plan an appropriate strategy of training for the attainment of the ideal “scanpath” as regards to a determined activity.
Considering the stations of visualisation of medical images, for instance, it would be desirable to be able to help the operator in the analysis of the displayed image not only simply analyzing the exploratory path to compare with others through statistical analysis—as it happens in the methods of the state of the art—but also producing a series of feedback which are variable according to the kind of running analysis and specifically addressed to the operator/user himself.
In brief, the drawbacks of the actual digital systems of visualisation can be summarized through the followings points:
The present invention overcomes the drawbacks described above introducing a method and a system for the management of stations of visualisation of medical images in a non-manual way, a method and a system that is capable of interfacing with eye-tracking and/or voice input devices that allow the management of the station of visualisation of digital images exclusively using the gaze and the voice instead of the usual user interfaces such as keyboards, mouse, trackball, optic pens etc.—including means for the analysis of the observation procedure of the user and means for the generation of appropriate feedback fit to guide the user himself in order to optimize his activity.
A purpose of the present invention is, therefore, to disclose a method and a system for the visualisation of medical images based on non-manual user interface and capable of providing to the user feedback related to the quality of his own strategy of observation and to the effectiveness of his own interpretation of the visual data, valuable information that the user himself can use to improve his performances.
Another purpose of the present invention consists in the optimisation of the management of the image by the station of visualisation, optimisation in terms of positioning and orientation of the image and in terms of management of the patient data.
A further purpose of the present invention is to realise said method and system for the management and the visualisation of medical images in a way that is compatible with eye-trackers devices and speech recognition modules.
It is an object of the present invention a method and a system for the visualisation, the processing and the analysis of digital medical images that employs non-manual commands, preferably optical commands using an eye-tracker device and/or vocal command using a speech recognition module, and is capable of providing automatic feedback to the operator following an analysis of his own visual exploration and his own attentive distribution.
With reference to
The step c) of the previously described sequence is performed by the module of filtering of the raw data according to the steps sequence described in the following and illustrated in
The management of the windows system and of the components, by the module for the definition of the optical command to activate, as mentioned at the previous step e) of the sequence illustrated in
The sub-routine of images processing described at the previous step f) works according to the sequence of steps described in the following and illustrated in
The command definition and the following action takes place, by means of the “state machine” sub-routine previously mentioned at step g), according to the following sequence illustrated and represented in
For example, among the executable optical commands it is possible to choose commands related to the visualisation or to the processing of images (full screen image, increase/decrease zoom, increase/decrease brightness, increase/decrease contrast, angles measurement, distance measurement etc.) or general commands like help menu, panning and scrolling of the image, patient's selection, copy/paste of galleries of images or single images, choice of the grid of visualisation of galleries or images, analysis of an area of interest. As a further example, operating modes can be chosen in order to set a different speed of scrolling for different areas of the window, a different time of reaction of the buttons according to their position, their function, etc.
Considering, for example, the procedure for the selection of the patient in order to visualise the images related to his medical tests, the following actions are performed:
the patient is selected in a list of available patients through optical command
the activation of the above selection can be done in the following ways:
Likewise, if the levels of contrast of a selected image has to be changed:
the icon related to the contrast into the control panel is selected through optical command
the activation of the functions “increase the contrast” or “decrease the contrast” takes place:
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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FI2004A000223 | Oct 2004 | IT | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP05/55636 | 10/28/2005 | WO | 00 | 4/27/2007 |