Patent Application
20070124169
The present invention relates generally to diagnostic imaging systems and, more particularly, to a networked environment of medical imaging scanners that support the collection of medical imaging data remote from a shared image processing and reconstruction center. In this regard, the present invention is particularly applicable with a networked environment having a thin client scanner that is connected to a remote image processing center. As such, data acquired with the thin client scanner, which is not capable of image reconstruction, can be communicated to a remote processing center for image reconstruction.
Medical imaging is increasingly being used for non-invasively detecting and diagnosing a host of medical conditions. Through various modalities, such as computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and x-ray imaging, physicians and other health care providers are able to diagnosis and measure the severity of various medical conditions, including, but not limited to cancer, trauma, heart disease, etc. Since each imaging modality provides a unique benefit, medical treatment facilities and imaging centers typically will have multiple scanners representative of the various modalities available for physicians to acquire imaging data of a patient.
Known medical imaging scanners are stand-alone devices wherein the entire imaging system is located at one physical location—the application site. In this regard, the imaging bay, the operator interface, the data acquisition subsystems, and the image processing and reconstruction subsystem are all integrated into a single medical imaging scanner. As a result, known medical imaging scanners are relatively large and therefore occupy large amounts of floor space. Moreover, as each scanner is a fully stand-alone device, that is, has all the hardware and software necessary for data collection and image reconstruction, the scanner can be quite costly to purchase and maintain. Adding to the costs is the redundancy in image processing capabilities.
That is, increasingly, medical treatment facilities, e.g. hospitals, and imaging centers are equipped with multiple scanners of the same type. For example, a medical imaging center that specializes in CT and MRI will have multiple CT scanners as well as multiple MR scanners. Each scanner is a stand-alone device and, as such, is equipped with its own data collection subsystem and its own image processing subsystem. Accordingly, not only must the hardware of each machine be maintained, but the software, which is redundant across the scanners, must be maintained at each scanner. Moreover, as more imaging and reconstruction protocols are being developed, the memory and processing capabilities of each scanner must be periodically updated. All of which leads to increased operating and maintenance costs.
Additionally, since each scanner is a stand-alone machine, each machine is typically not fully utilized. That is, when a scanner is not in use, for scheduled maintenance, repair, or down-time, not only is the data collection subsystem not being used, but neither is the image reconstruction subsystem. The image reconstruction subsystem, which is largely a software driven subsystem, is therefore unnecessarily idle when the data collection subsystem, a largely hardware driven subsystem, is not in use. Therefore, the down-time of the scanner is unnecessarily exaggerated simply because the scanner hardware is not in use.
Therefore, it would be desirable to design an imaging scanner that is reduced in size by remotely locating the data collection subsystem and image processing subsystem of the scanner from one another. It would also be desirable to provide a network of shared-resources medical imaging scanners to reduce the redundancy typically found in multi-scanner facilities.
The present invention is directed to a network of medical imaging systems that overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks.
A medical imaging scanner is constructed such that its data acquisition subsystem is located at the site of a medical imaging scan. Through either a wired or wireless link, the raw data collected during the scan is transmitted to a remotely located image processing and reconstruction subsystem that processes the raw data to provide a diagnostically valuable image. Preferably, the remotely located image processing and reconstruction subsystem is located at a centralized facility and is connected to receive and process data from various scanners. The remotely located image processing and reconstruction subsystem is preferably equipped to process and reconstruct an image from data acquired with multiple types of medical imaging scanners. In this regard, reconstruction of a CT, PET, MR, x-ray, or the like image can be carried out remotely from the scanner used to acquire the corresponding raw data. Moreover, by centralizing data processing and image reconstruction, maintenance relating to the image processing and reconstruction subsystem can be carried out on a single subsystem rather than multiple scanners.
Therefore, in accordance with one aspect of the present invention, an imaging system includes an imaging bay located at an application site and a data acquisition subsystem proximate the imaging bay at the application site. The imaging system further has an image processing and reconstruction subsystem operably connected to receive data from the data acquisition subsystem and located remotely from the application site.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a network of medical imaging scanners is presented and includes a plurality of imaging scanners. At least one of the imaging scanners is a thin client scanner and is therefore incapable of processing acquired imaging data to reconstruct an image therefrom. The network also includes an image processing and reconstruction center that is remotely located from the thin client scanner. The network further includes a communications link at least linking the thin client scanner to the image processing and reconstruction center such that imaging data acquired with the thin client scanner can be reconstructed into an image.
According to another aspect, the present invention is embodied in a method of acquiring medical imaging data that includes prescribing a medical imaging scan and acquiring data medical imaging data with a given scanner. The method further includes the step of routing the medical imaging data to a remotely located image processing center. An image is then reconstructed from the medical imaging data at the image processing center.
Various other features and advantages of the present invention will be made apparent from the following detailed description and the drawings.
The drawings illustrate one preferred embodiment presently contemplated for carrying out the invention.
In the drawings:
The present invention is directed to a networked environment of medical imaging scanners. As will be described, this networked environment provides processor load balancing and hardware redundancy. Additionally, the networked environment facilitates image processing and reconstruction remotely from the scan site thereby facilitating a reduction in the size, hardware, and software needs of the scanners of the network. In one preferred embodiment, a central image processing and reconstruction center receives and processes data for image reconstruction for a number of remotely located scanners. The central image processing and reconstruction center is preferably constructed to process data from a heterogeneous network of scanners.
Referring now to
At the remote site 14, communications interface 28 receives the imaging data from the remotely located communications subsystem 24. A CPU 30 at the remote site 14 routes the received data to an image processing and reconstruction subsystem 32 that reconstructs an image of the received data in accordance with known image reconstruction techniques. After the received data has been processed into an image, that image is preferably stored on an image archive 34 and transmitted to the remote subsystem across the communications link 26 so that the image can be displayed locally at the scan site 12 on computer monitor 36.
While a number of communication techniques are contemplated, communication between the communications subsystem 24 at the scan site 12 and the communications interface at the remote site 14 is preferably via a large bandwidth, high speed connection that supports at least a 20 megabyte per second transfer rate. In this regard, not only does the communications link carry the imaging data and resulting image thereacross, but also allows transmission of operator's instructions with respect to the type of image reconstruction to be employed at the remote site. As such, an operator at the scan site maintains control of the image reconstruction process despite that reconstruction being carried out remotely or off-site.
The communications link between the at-site communications subsystem 24 and the off-site communications interface 28 may be of any acceptable type, including conventional telephone lines, fiber optics, cable modem links, digital subscriber lines, wireless data transfer systems, or the like. The communications subsystem and the communications interface each have hardware and software of generally known design thereby permitting each to establish network connection and exchange data therebetween. In some cases, during periods when no data is exchanged between the scan site and the remote site, the communications link can be terminated. In other cases, the communications link is maintained continuously.
In accordance with further embodiments of the present invention, this high-speed, high bandwidth communication is exploited in a shared-resources network. One embodiment is illustrated in
Still referring to
One skilled in the art will appreciate that while only two scanners are shown networked in
Referring now to
In the embodiment of
In the embodiment illustrated in
In one implementation of the embodiment illustrated in
In the embodiment illustrated in
As further shown, the centralized processing and reconstruction subsystem 50 may also be connected to a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) 56. The PACS connection to the image processing subsystem 50 provides a centralized, single-point connection image archival network. As such, images from all the scanners can be stored and archived via a single connection with the image processing subsystem 50.
As described above, the present invention includes a communications link that connects a remote scanner to a remote image processing and reconstruction center. It is understood that communication between the scanner and remote reconstruction center may be over the Internet, or alternatively, be via direct dial-up links through dedicated lines, an intranet, or public communication systems. In this regard, it is understood that the communication link may be of any acceptable type, including conventional telephone lines, fiber optics, cable modem links, digital subscriber lines, wireless data transfer systems, or the like. It is preferred that the communication link be of sufficient bandwidth to support 20 MB/sec. communication. However, it is contemplated that other communication speeds may be used to transfer data while maintaining overall system performance at an acceptable level. Moreover, the scanners as well as the remote image processing and reconstruction center include hardware, firmware, and/or software to facilitate the transmission and reception of data across the communications link.
As described above, the present invention is particularly applicable to medical treatment/imaging facilities having medical scanners on-site. The types of medical scanners contemplated include, but are not limited to CT scanners, MR imaging machines, PET scanners, and x-ray imaging machines. It is also understood that the present invention is applicable with stationary or fixed scanners as well as mobile scanners. In this regard, each scanner may be recognized by a fixed network address or, in the context of mobile scanners, have various network addresses. Further, the present invention may be used with mobile scanners, such as those found in ambulatory vehicles, that are mobilized in order to service patients at various medical facilities or in route to a medical treatment facility.
As set forth herein, the present invention is applicable with medical image scanners of various modalities. For purposes of illustration, an exemplary thin client CT scanner is illustrated in
Rotation of gantry 60 and the operation of x-ray source 62 are governed by a control mechanism 74. Control mechanism 74 includes an x-ray controller 76 that provides power and timing signals to an x-ray source 62 and a gantry motor controller 78 that controls the rotational speed and position of gantry 60. A data acquisition system (DAS) 80 in control mechanism 74 samples analog data from detectors 68 and converts the data to digital signals for subsequent processing. In contrast to conventional CT scanners, CT system 58 is constructed without an image reconstructor that performs high speed reconstruction. In this regard, the CT system includes a communications subsystem 82 that transfers the digital signals to a remote image processing and reconstruction subsystem (not shown) whereat the digital signals are reconstructed in accordance with known reconstruction algorithms. The reconstructed image is then fed back to the communications subsystem 82 whereupon the image is applied as an input to computer 84 which stores the image in local memory 86 or displays the image on monitor 90. It is understood that the communications subsystem includes transmitters, receivers, and the like to facilitate the bidirectional communication with the remote image processing and reconstruction center.
Computer 84 also receives commands and scanning parameters from an operator via console 88 that has a keyboard. Monitor 90 allows the operator to observe the reconstructed image and other data from computer 84. The operator supplied commands and parameters are used by computer 84 to provide control signals and information to DAS 80, x-ray controller 76 and gantry motor controller 78. In addition, computer 84 operates a table motor controller 92 which controls a motorized table 94 to position patient 70 and gantry 60. Particularly, table 94 moves portions of patient 70 through a gantry opening 96.
Therefore, an imaging system is disclosed and includes an imaging bay located at an application site and a data acquisition subsystem proximate the imaging bay at the application site. The imaging system further has an image processing and reconstruction subsystem operably connected to receive data from the data acquisition subsystem and located remotely from the application site.
A network of medical imaging scanners is also presented and includes a plurality of imaging scanners. At least one of the imaging scanners is a thin client scanner and is therefore incapable of processing acquired imaging data to reconstruct an image therefrom. The network also includes an image processing and reconstruction center that is remotely located from the thin client scanner. The network further includes a communications link at least linking the thin client scanner to the image processing and reconstruction center such that imaging data acquired with the thin client scanner can be reconstructed into an image.
The present invention is also embodied in a method of acquiring medical imaging data that includes prescribing a medical imaging scan and acquiring data medical imaging data with a given scanner. The method further includes the step of routing the medical imaging data to a remotely located image processing center. An image is the reconstructed from the medical imaging data at the image processing center.
The present invention has been described in terms of the preferred embodiment, and it is recognized that equivalents, alternatives, and modifications, aside from those expressly stated, are possible and within the scope of the appending claims.
