Nuclear medicine scanning scheduler

Abstract

A framework for scheduling nuclear medicine scans. The framework may search a database for patient records of previous patients most similar to the current patient based on the first patient and scan attributes associated with the current patient. The patient record of the most similar patient includes the second patient and scan attributes. In response to a first scan procedure associated with a current patient matching a second scan procedure of the patient record, a scan duration may be predicted based on the patient record to generate a predicted scan duration for the current patient.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to data processing and, more particularly, to planning the scheduling of nuclear medicine scans of patients. Background Art

[0002] Nuclear medicine scanning is a method of producing medical images of a patient by detecting radiation emitted by a radioactive tracer (or radiopharmaceutical) from different parts of the body after the radioactive tracer is administered to the patient. The medical image data is then acquired and reconstructed by a medical scanner (e.g., a positron emission tomography or PET scanner) and reviewed by a nuclear medicine physician, who interprets the image data to make a diagnosis.

[0003] Physicians typically schedule patients to undergo nuclear medicine scanning procedures at specific dates and times. The most common way to schedule nuclear medicine procedures is via verbal and written communication. However, many issues can complicate scheduling. For example, dose delivery to a facility may be interrupted. Additionally, a medical scanner may be shut down due to a technical malfunction or mandatory system maintenance, resulting in the need to reschedule a scan.

[0004] These issues make it very difficult to plan patient scans and assess how many patients can be scanned on a given day. Inefficient scheduling can result in wasted scanner time or radiopharmaceutical doses. Summary of the invention

[0005] A framework for scheduling nuclear medicine scans is described herein. According to one aspect, the framework searches a database for a patient record of a previous patient that is most similar to a current patient based on a first patient and a scan attribute associated with a current patient. The patient record of the most similar patient includes a second patient and the scan attribute. In response to a first scan procedure associated with a current patient matching a second scan procedure of the patient record, a scan duration can be predicted based on the patient record to generate a predicted scan duration for the current patient. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] A more complete appreciation of the present disclosure and its many attendant aspects will be readily obtained by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, as the present disclosure and its many attendant aspects become better understood.

[0007] Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system;

[0008] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary medical facility;

[0009] Figure 3 An exemplary method of scheduling a nuclear medicine scan is shown; and

[0010] Figure 4 An exemplary guideline table for adjusting scan duration extracted from similar patient records is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0011] In the following description, many specific details are set forth, such as examples of specific components, devices, methods, etc., in order to provide a thorough understanding of the implementation of this framework. However, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that these specific details do not need to be adopted to practice the implementation of this framework. In other examples, in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the implementation of this framework, known materials or methods are not described in detail. Although this framework is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, its specific embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings by way of example and will be described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that there is no intention to limit the present invention to the specific form disclosed; on the contrary, the present invention is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents and substitutes that fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention. In addition, for ease of understanding, certain method steps are described as separate steps; however, these separately described steps should not be interpreted as necessarily relying on order in their execution.

[0012] Unless otherwise noted, it will be clear from the following discussion that it will be appreciated that terms such as "segmentation," "generation," "registration," "determination," "alignment," "positioning," "processing," "computation," "selection," "estimation," "detection," "tracking," "deriving," and the like may refer to actions and processes of a computer system or similar electronic computing device that manipulate and transform data represented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantities within registers and memories of a computer system into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the memory or registers of the computer system or other such information storage, transmission, or display device. Embodiments of the methods described herein may be implemented using computer software. If written in a programming language that conforms to a recognized standard, a sequence of instructions designed to implement the method may be compiled so as to be executed on a variety of hardware platforms and interfaced with a variety of operating systems. In addition, the implementation of the present framework is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages ​​may be used.

[0013] When scheduling a nuclear medicine scan, a number of factors need to be carefully considered. Identifying the patient type is a necessary factor, as each patient may require different care. Scan times may vary for each patient, not only based on the protocol used, but also based on the patient's physical and disease conditions. There is also a need to track the availability of each medical scanner. Currently, physicians or technicians use experience to estimate the overall scan duration. Based on the estimated scan duration, the administration of the radiopharmaceutical is planned for the next patient so that they are prepared for their scan.

[0014] The present framework facilitates nuclear medicine scan scheduling. In some implementations, different attributes that affect scan duration (e.g., patient mobility status) are collated and used to predict the overall utilization of medical scanners by future patients (i.e., scan duration). Scan duration can be used to automatically plan the administration time of radiopharmaceuticals and the scheduling of patients to be scanned on corresponding scanners on a given day. Attributes used for scan duration prediction may include patient attributes, such as those entered during patient registration (e.g., scan procedure, height, weight), and scan attributes, including but not limited to the administered radiopharmaceutical dose, remaining activity, administration time, planned scan procedure, delay duration, medical scanner model, technician information, or a combination thereof. Such attributes can be automatically provided to the medical scanner module, thereby reducing manual input errors and increasing the effectiveness of dose management at the facility because it presents a clear overview of how much activity is left in the radiopharmaceutical vial for the next injection to the technician.

[0015] In some implementations, the scheduler generates alerts based on user-set protocols to ensure that delayed scans are not missed. This avoids the technician from manually tracking studies. The scheduler plans scans by taking into account any delays in patient studies and scanner downtime. When the medical scanner is down, the scheduler facilitates the adaptation of patients who are administered radioactive drugs and helps ensure that patients are scanned quickly and efficiently. The scheduler can alert technicians to appropriately plan patient scans after considering the preventive maintenance log of the medical scanner. The scheduler can also determine the amount of radioactive drugs that the hospital will purchase to scan the planned number of patients in a given day. These and other features and advantages will be described in more detail herein.

[0016] Figure 1 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system 100. System 100 includes a computer system 101 for implementing a framework as described herein. In some implementations, computer system 101 operates as a standalone device. In other implementations, computer system 101 can be connected (e.g., using a network) to other machines such as a medical scanner 102, a workstation 103, a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader 128, and a presentation device 130. In a networked deployment, computer system 101 can operate as a server (e.g., a thin-client server), a cloud computing platform, a client user machine in a server-client user network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment.

[0017] In some implementations, the computer system 101 includes a processor device or central processing unit (CPU) 104, which is coupled to one or more non-transitory computer-readable media 105 (e.g., computer storage or memory), a display device 110 (e.g., a monitor), and various input devices 111 (e.g., a mouse or keyboard) via an input-output interface 121. The computer system 101 may further include support circuits such as caches, power supplies, clock circuits, and communication buses. Various other peripheral devices such as additional data storage devices and printing devices may also be connected to the computer system 101.

[0018] The present technology can be implemented in various forms of hardware, software, firmware, dedicated processors, or a combination thereof, or as part of microinstruction code, or as part of an application or software product, or a combination thereof, which is executed via an operating system. In some implementations, the technology described herein is implemented as computer-readable program code tangibly embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable medium 105. Specifically, the present technology can be implemented by a scheduler 107.

[0019] The non-transitory computer readable medium 105 may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic floppy disk, flash memory and other types of memory or a combination thereof. The computer readable program code is executed by the CPU 104 to process data retrieved from, for example, the medical scanner 102, the workstation 103, the RFID reader 128 and the database 109. As such, the computer system 101 is a general-purpose computer system that becomes a special-purpose computer system when the computer readable program code is executed. The computer readable program code is not intended to be limited to any particular programming language and its implementation. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages ​​and their encodings may be used to implement the teachings of the disclosure contained herein.

[0020] The same or different computer readable medium 105 can be used to store a database (or data set) 109. Such data can also be stored in an external storage device or other memory. The external storage device can be implemented using a database management system (DBMS) managed by the CPU 104 and resides on a memory such as a hard disk, RAM, or removable media. The external storage device can be implemented on one or more additional computer systems. For example, the external storage device can include a data warehouse system residing on a separate computer system, a cloud platform or system, a picture archiving and communication system (PACS), or any other hospital, medical institution, medical office, testing facility, pharmacy, or other medical patient record storage system.

[0021] The medical scanner 102 is a radiological scanning modality that acquires medical image data 120 associated with a patient. The medical scanner 102 may acquire the medical image data 120 using techniques such as, but not limited to, high resolution computed tomography (HRCT), magnetic resonance (MR) scanning, computed tomography (CT), spiral CT, X-ray, angiography, positron emission tomography (PET), fluoroscopy, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), or a combination thereof. Scanner information associated with the medical scanner 102 (e.g., installation date, maintenance period, periodic downtime) may be stored in the database 109.

[0022] The workstation 103 may include a tablet device, a mobile device, a laptop computer, or a computer for use by a medical technician. The workstation 103 may include a graphical user interface to receive user input via an input device (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, a voice or video recognition interface) to input medical data 122. The workstation 103 may operate in conjunction with the entire system 100. For example, the workstation 103 may communicate directly or indirectly with the medical scanner 102 and / or the RFID reader 128 so that the medical image data 120 and / or the unique identifier 124 are displayed at the workstation 103. The workstation 103 may also provide or retrieve and display patient data, radiopharmaceutical administration data (e.g., RA time, predicted and actual dose), scan data for a given patient (e.g., scan duration, delayed scan time), and / or scanner information (e.g., maintenance or downtime information). Multiple workstations 103 may be provided in a given facility.

[0023] RFID reader 128 is a device with one or more antennas that transmit radio waves and receive signals returned from RFID tags. RFID tags can be active or passive devices that store an identifier unique to a particular patient. This unique identifier can be used to find and retrieve patient information from computer system 101.

[0024] The presentation device 130 may be any display device (e.g., monitor, television) or sound device (e.g., speaker) for presenting the scheduling information 129 visible to the public. One or more presentation devices 130 may be located, for example, in a reception area, a radiopharmaceutical administration (RA) room, a pre-scan room, a scan room, and / or a post-scan room. The scheduling information 129 may include, but is not limited to, the number of patients in the queue, the waiting time, the RA time of the corresponding patient, the scan time, and / or the delayed scan time.

[0025] It will be further understood that because some of the constituent system components and method steps depicted in the accompanying drawings can be implemented in software, the actual connections between the system components (or process steps) may vary depending on the manner in which the present framework is programmed. Given the teachings provided herein, one of ordinary skill in the relevant art will be able to envision these and similar implementations or configurations of the present framework.

[0026] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary medical facility 200 in which the exemplary system 100 may be deployed. The medical facility 200 includes a reception area 202, a radiopharmaceutical administration (RA) room 204, a pre-scan room 205, a scan room 206, and a post-scan room 208. It should be appreciated that the layout and number of rooms are shown for illustrative purposes. Any other layout or rooms may also be applicable.

[0027] When the patient arrives at the reception area 202, the receptionist registers the patient. The receptionist can enter or retrieve patient data 122a including patient attributes via the workstation 103a. The patient data 122a is communicated to the computer system 101. The patient attributes in the patient data 122a may include, but are not limited to, age, gender, weight, height, requested scanning procedures, mobility status, history of claustrophobia or anxiety, etc. Other patient data 122a may include, but are not limited to, patient name, diagnosis, risk history, known allergic reactions, ambulatory information, etc. Other types of patient data 122a may also be provided. An RFID tag storing a unique identifier may be provided to the patient. If the patient is visiting the doctor for the first time, a unique identifier is generated for the new patient. Otherwise, the unique identifier is retrieved from the computer system 101. The unique identifier can be used to find and retrieve patient information from the computer system 101.

[0028] The patient then enters the radiopharmaceutical administration room 204. The patient's blood glucose level can be checked to minimize dietary glucose-related competitive inhibition of the radiopharmaceutical. Additionally, the patient's creatine level can also be checked. The blood glucose and creatine levels can be displayed on the workstation 103b. If the blood glucose and creatine levels do not exceed a predetermined threshold, the radiopharmaceutical is administered to the patient. Various methods can be used to administer the radiopharmaceutical. For example, the radiopharmaceutical can be taken orally by mouth, injected, or placed in the eye or bladder.

[0029] In some implementations, the scheduler 107 estimates the dose of the radiopharmaceutical to be administered to the patient based on the patient data 122a. The patient dose can be estimated based on, for example, the scan type, the patient's weight, and the amount of dose remaining at the facility. The scheduler 107 can keep track of the amount of dose used and the amount of dose ordered by the facility. When the remaining dose is less than the dose required by the current patient, the scheduler 107 can automatically split the remaining dose between the current patients based on a predetermined lower threshold. The predetermined lower threshold can be provided by, for example, a user during the initial setup of the scheduler 107. As an example, a hospital may typically administer a dose of 10mCi. However, if the remaining dose in the hospital is only 25mCi (e.g., due to active decay), and there are 3 current patients to be scanned, the scheduler 107 can split the remaining dose into 10mCi, 8mCi, and 7mCi based on the patient's weight and the scan protocol. Alternatively, the scheduler 107 may split the remaining dose more evenly among the three patients into 9 mCi, 8 mCi, and 8 mCi based on patient weight and exam type. After the radiopharmaceutical is administered, actual administration data 122b (e.g., method, time, dose, activity) may be entered at workstation 103b and sent to computer system 101 via workstation 103b. The patient waits in pre-scan room 205 for a period of time (e.g., 30-60 minutes) during which uptake of the radiopharmaceutical occurs prior to the scan.

[0030] Prior to entering the scanning room 206, the RFID tag associated with the patient is scanned by the RFID reader 128. The RFID reader 128 transmits the unique identifier 124 stored in the RFID tag to the computer system 101, thereby notifying the computer system 101 that the patient is entering the scanning room 206. The workstation 103c retrieves the patient data 122c based on the unique identifier 124. The patient is loaded onto the scanning table of the medical scanner 102. After the patient is loaded, the patient is scanned by the medical scanner 102.

[0031] In some instances, as part of the scan protocol, one or more delayed scans are required, where the patient needs to be scanned multiple times (e.g., two or three times). For example, some nuclear scan protocols require that the patient be scanned after the radiopharmaceutical is administered (i.e., a baseline scan), and then the patient is scanned again (i.e., a delayed scan) after a delay duration of one or two hours to determine how the activity of the radiopharmaceutical progresses in the patient's body. If it is determined that the scan protocol requires a delayed scan, a recommended delayed scan time is derived from the delay duration and reserved for the patient on the scan schedule. The delay duration (e.g., 1 hour) can be defined by a technician and stored in the database 109 as a scan protocol setting. If the delayed scan is performed later than the recommended delayed scan time, the quality of the image and interpretation may be affected.

[0032] The patient may wait in the back scan room 208 during the delay duration until an alarm is generated before the patient's turn to indicate that the patient may enter the scan room 206 and the scan may begin soon (e.g., 15 min). The alarm may include, for example, a sound and / or light flash on the workstation 103 c, a light emitting diode (LED) flash on the patient's RFID tag, or a combination thereof. The scheduler 107 may also alert the technician (e.g., by displaying a message on the workstation 103 c) to avoid scheduling additional patients to be scanned during the delay duration so that the same medical scanner can be used for the delayed scan of the current patient.

[0033] If the delay duration is greater than the predicted scan duration, the computer system 101 can identify the next patient from the schedule. The identified patient name and any delayed scan information 129 can be retrieved from the computer system 101 and presented on the presentation device 130. The technician can notify the next patient in the pre-scan room 205 of the delay.

[0034] After the scan is complete, the medical image can be reconstructed and reviewed for image quality. The patient is unloaded from the examination table and waits in the post-scanning room 208. The patient can wait in the post-scanning room 208 until the radioactivity is reduced to an acceptable level. The actual scan duration can be recorded and communicated to the computer system 101 via the workstation 103c. As used herein, "scan duration" (or scan time) generally refers to the amount of time that a patient occupies the scanning room 206. The scan duration can be defined by the time interval between the patient entering the scanning room 206 (e.g., swiping in using an RFID tag) and the patient leaving the scanning room 206 (e.g., swiping out using an RFID tag) and entering the post-scanning room 208. In some cases, when scheduling a patient to undergo a delayed scan, the scan duration can be defined by a first duration when the patient is in the scanning room 206, a duration when the patient waits in the post-scanning room 208, and a second duration when the patient is in the scanning room 206 for a delayed scan. Once the current patient vacates the scanning room 206, the next scheduled patient can enter the scanning room 206.

[0035] Figure 3 An exemplary method 300 for scheduling a nuclear medicine scan is shown. It should be understood that the steps of method 300 may be performed in the order shown or in a different order. Additional, different, or fewer steps may also be provided. Furthermore, method 300 may be used Figure 1 System 100, Figure 2 It can be implemented by medical facilities 200, different systems or facilities or a combination thereof.

[0036] At 302 , method 300 begins when a current patient is registered.

[0037] At 304, the scheduler 107 receives patient attributes for the current patient. The workstation 103a may input and / or retrieve patient attributes at the reception area 202. Patient attributes may include, but are not limited to, age, gender, weight, height, requested scanning procedure, mobility status, history of claustrophobia or anxiety, and the like.

[0038] At 306, the scheduler 107 assigns the current patient to a medical scanner and a technician and retrieves the scan attributes associated with the assigned medical scanner and technician. This assignment can be performed based on the availability of the medical scanner and technician. Additionally, if the patient has been scanned earlier at the same facility and is undergoing a follow-up scan or a delayed scan after the initial baseline scan, the patient is assigned to the same medical scanner used for the baseline scan. In the case of a delayed scan, the scheduler 107 can block the time on the scan schedule and alert the technician by generating an alarm so that no other patient can be assigned to the same medical scanner during the delay duration. The scheduler 107 can also use the scan attributes associated with the baseline scan to determine the delay duration and dose of the follow-up or delayed scan.

[0039] Once a patient is assigned to a medical scanner, the scheduler 107 can look up the scan attributes associated with the medical scanner. The scan attributes associated with the assigned medical scanner can be retrieved from the database 109 and presented on, for example, the workstations 103a and 103b in the reception area 202 and the RA room 204, respectively. Such scan attributes may include, but are not limited to, the assigned medical scanner model and information (e.g., name, experience) of the technician performing the scan. The retrieved scan attributes associated with the assigned medical scanner can be used to determine how long it typically takes for a technician to run a scan on the assigned medical scanner. Additionally, the scheduler 107 can retrieve scan attributes associated with the patient in the baseline scan (e.g., delay duration, dose administered) to suggest doses and scan delays for subsequent scans for better comparability.

[0040] At 308, the scheduler 107 searches the database 109 for patient records of previous patients that are most similar to the current patient based on the patient attributes and scan attributes. The goal is to find similar patients with the greatest number of matching patient and scan attributes, since these patient and scan attributes may affect scan duration. The assumption is that if all patient and scan attributes between the current patient and the previous patient associated with the patient records match, then the scan durations for the two patients should be similar.

[0041] The database 109 may store patient records for previously scanned patients who have visited the medical facility 200. Each patient record stores one or more patient attributes and one or more scan attributes associated with the previous patient. The database 109 may initially include a default scan duration value. As more and more patients are scanned, the database 109 collects more and more patient records, which provides more data points for incoming new patients. With more data points, the probability of finding a match between a new patient and a previously scanned patient increases.

[0042] At 310, the scheduler 107 compares the requested scan procedure for the current patient with the scan procedure description of the most similar patient record to determine if they match.

[0043] If there is no match, then at 312, the scheduler 107 applies a default scan duration as the predicted scan duration. Since the scan procedure does not match, there is no need to check the remaining patient and scan attributes of similar patient records because the scan duration in the similar patient record is not applicable to the current patient. The default scan duration may be retrieved from, for example, the database 109. The default scan duration indicates a typical scan duration for the requested scan procedure plus a predetermined adjustment time period. The default scan duration may be facility dependent and defined by facility staff when the scheduler 107 is first installed at the facility.

[0044] If there is a match, then at 314, the scheduler 107 predicts the scan duration based on the most similar patient record. If the patient and scan attributes of the similar patient record exactly match the attributes of the current patient, the scheduler 107 applies the scan duration in the similar patient record as the predicted scan duration. For example, if the patient's mobility state, age, weight, history of claustrophobia or anxiety, scan delays, and technician experience in the similar patient record match those attributes of the current patient, the actual scan duration in the similar patient record is applied as the predicted scan duration. In some implementations, if the actual scan duration is significantly different from the predicted scan duration in the similar patient record, the scheduler 107 may apply the average of the actual and predicted scan durations of the similar patient records as the predicted scan duration for the current patient.

[0045] Otherwise, non-matching patient and scan attributes of the current and previous patients may be used to adjust the actual scan duration extracted from similar patient records to generate a predicted scan duration. The comparison may be performed in a predetermined priority order. The extracted scan duration may be adjusted based on, for example, patient mobility status, age, weight, past history of claustrophobia, scan delays, and technician experience and / or other attributes extracted from similar patient records. A weight may be assigned to each attribute according to priority to adjust the scan duration.

[0046] Figure 4 An exemplary guideline table 400 for adjusting scan durations extracted from similar patient records is shown. Column 402 shows patient or scan attributes (e.g., patient mobility, age, weight, prior history of claustrophobia / anxiety, delay duration, technician experience), and column 404 shows corresponding adjustments to scan durations (e.g., increase or decrease by a predetermined percentage amount). It should be appreciated that these adjustments are shown for illustrative purposes, and other types of adjustments based on other types of attributes may also be useful. For example, the scan duration may be adjusted based on the model of the medical scanner, as newer models may scan faster than older models. These adjustments may be a starting point. As the database collects more patient records, machine learning algorithms may be applied to determine these adjustments.

[0047] In an exemplary case, the current patient A is a 50-year-old in a wheelchair who has requested a bone scan. The technician assigned to perform the scan is an expert with 10 years of experience and is performing the scan on a state-of-the-art scanner. The scheduler 107 searches the database 109 for the most similar patient record associated with the previous patient B. If all attributes between patient A and patient B match, the scheduler 107 simply uses the previous scan duration in the most similar patient record as the predicted scan duration for patient A. However, if only the patient age, weight, and technician assigned to patient B match those attributes of patient A, and patient B is mobile (i.e., not in a wheelchair), the previous scan duration for patient B may be increased by 10% to generate a predicted scan duration for patient A.

[0048] Back to Figure 3 At 316, the scheduler 107 determines a scan schedule based on the predicted scan duration. The dose of the radiopharmaceutical to be administered to the current patient may also be derived based on the predicted scan duration. The scan schedule may include reservations for radiopharmaceutical administration (RA) and scans (e.g., baseline, follow-up, and / or delayed scans) for the current patient. RA time may be reserved on the scan schedule based on the current number of patients in the queue for the scan, the predicted scan duration for the queued patients, and any scan delays for the current patient. In the event that the scan protocol requires a delayed scan, a buffer time (or delay duration) may be inserted into the predicted time duration to ensure that the scan of the previous patient is completed within any prescribed scan delay for the current patient. The buffer time may be, for example, a predetermined duration (e.g., 10-20%).

[0049] In an exemplary scenario, patient X is the current patient, and patients A and B are already in the queue for scanning. Patient A is scheduled by scheduler 107 to be scanned at 10:00 AM, and patient B is scheduled by scheduler 107 to be scanned at 10:30 AM. It is expected that the scan of patient B will be completed around 11:10 AM. Scheduler 107 back-calculates and determines that patient X requires an imaging delay of 60 minutes, and therefore should be injected at 10:10 AM, so that he can be scanned at 11:10 AM.

[0050] The technician may choose to provide an additional buffer in the initial phase. For example, since patient X was injected at 10:10 AM, he should be scanned at 11:30 AM at the latest, as the activity of the radiopharmaceutical (consider fluorodeoxyglucose or FDG in this case) may significantly affect image quality after that time. The technician may insert a buffer time for patient B and indicate that patient B may take longer. Patient X should only be injected at 10:20 AM, allowing a 10-minute buffer time for patient B's scan duration.

[0051] The derived RA times and scan times can be used to plan schedules for current patients, patients in the queue, and new patients coming up that day to optimize the use of scan resources (e.g., scan rooms, medical scanners, doses available at the facility). In addition to reducing human errors, automation of scheduling advantageously produces more efficient and accurate results.

[0052] At 318, the scheduler 107 sends a notification of the derived RA time and scan time. For example, the scheduler 107 sends a notification to the workstation 103b in the RA room 204, the workstation 103c in the scan room 206, and the presentation device 130 to display the derived RA time and scan time for the current patient. The workstation 103b can notify the technician of the RA time and dose for the current patient. The patient can then receive the dose of the radiopharmaceutical at or near the recommended RA time.

[0053] The scheduler 107 records the actual RA time and dose in the current patient's record after the radiopharmaceutical is administered at 320. When the patient enters the scanning room 206, the patient's record may be displayed at the workstation 103c.

[0054] At 322, after the scan of the current patient is completed and the patient exits the scan room 206, the scheduler 107 records the actual scan duration. The recording of the actual scan duration may be initiated in response to, for example, a scan of the current patient's RFID tag as the patient exits the scan room 206. It should be appreciated that other mechanisms that automatically initiate recording of a patient's entry into the scan room 206 and / or exit from the scan room 206 are also useful. The actual scan duration is stored in the database 109 for future comparisons. As more patient records are added to the database 109, the probability of finding a matching patient record for future new patients increases.

[0055] The scheduler 107 can compare the actual scan duration to the predicted scan duration to determine any deviation in the prediction. A trained neural network nonlinear regression method can be used to determine the percentage deviation in the prediction. The percentage deviation can be used to determine adjustments to the scan duration to increase the accuracy of the prediction.

[0056] Although the present framework has been described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims. For example, within the scope of the present disclosure and the appended claims, elements and / or features of different exemplary embodiments may be combined with each other and / or substituted with each other.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform operations for scheduling a nuclear medicine scan, the operations comprising: receiving one or more first patient attributes and one or more first scan attributes associated with a current patient, wherein at least one of the one or more first patient attributes includes a first scan procedure; searching a database for a patient record of a previous patient that is most similar to the current patient based on the one or more first patient attributes and the one or more first scan attributes, wherein the patient record includes one or more second patient attributes and one or more second scan attributes; comparing the first scan procedure with a second scan procedure in the patient record; In response to a first scan procedure matching a second scan procedure, predicting a scan duration based on the patient record to generate a predicted scan duration for a current patient; and A scan schedule is determined based on the predicted scan duration.

2. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein: The operations further include: In response to the first scan procedure not matching the second scan procedure, a default scan duration is applied as the predicted scan duration for the current patient.

3. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein: The one or more first and second patient attributes include age, gender, weight, height, mobility status, history of claustrophobia or anxiety, or a combination thereof.

4. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein: The first and second one or more scan attributes include administered radiopharmaceutical dose, remaining activity, administration time, planned scan procedure, delay duration, medical scanner model, technician information, or a combination thereof.

5. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein: Predicting scan duration based on patient records to generate a predicted scan duration includes: In response to one or more first patient attributes and one or more first scan attributes associated with the current patient matching one or more second patient attributes and one or more second scan attributes in the patient record, a scan duration is predicted based on an actual scan duration in the patient record.

6. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein: Predicting scan duration based on patient records to generate a predicted scan duration includes: In response to at least one of the one or more first patient attributes or at least one of the one or more first scan attributes associated with the current patient not matching at least one of the one or more second patient attributes and at least one of the one or more second scan attributes in the patient record, adjusting the actual scan duration in the patient record based on at least one of the one or more first and second patient attributes or at least one of the one or more first and second scan attributes to generate a predicted scan duration.

7. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein: Determining the scan schedule includes reserving a radiopharmaceutical administration time and a scan time on the scan schedule for the current patient.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein: Determining the scan schedule further includes reserving a delayed scan time for the current patient on the scan schedule.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein: The operations further include: Generates an alert to remind the current patient to enter the scan room at the delayed scan time.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein: The alert is generated on a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein: The operations further include: In response to a scan of the RFID tag, the actual scan duration is recorded.

12. A method for scheduling a nuclear medicine scan, comprising: receiving one or more first patient attributes and one or more first scan attributes associated with a current patient, wherein at least one of the one or more first patient attributes includes a first scan procedure; searching a database for a patient record of a previous patient that is most similar to the current patient based on the one or more first patient attributes and the one or more first scan attributes, wherein the patient record includes one or more second patient attributes and one or more second scan attributes; comparing the first scan procedure with a second scan procedure in the patient record; and In response to the first scan procedure being matched to the second scan procedure, a scan duration is predicted based on the patient record to generate a predicted scan duration for a current patient.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising estimating a dose of a radiopharmaceutical to be administered to a current patient based on the one or more first patient attributes and an amount of dose remaining at the facility. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining that a delayed scan is required after a delay duration.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising generating a first alarm to remind the current patient to enter the scanning room for a delayed scan.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein: The first alert is generated on a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising generating a second alert to alert a technician to avoid scheduling additional patients to be scanned at the same medical scanner used for the current patient during the delay duration.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising applying scan properties associated with the baseline scan to the delayed scan.

19. The method according to claim 12, wherein: Predicting scan duration based on patient records to generate a predicted scan duration includes: In response to one or more first patient attributes and one or more first scan attributes associated with the current patient matching one or more second patient attributes and one or more second scan attributes in the patient record, applying an actual scan duration in the patient record as a predicted scan duration for the current patient.

20. A scheduling system, comprising: a non-transitory memory device for storing computer readable program code; and a processor device in communication with the non-transitory memory device, the processor device operating with the computer readable program code to perform steps comprising: receiving one or more first patient attributes and one or more first scan attributes associated with a current patient, wherein at least one of the one or more first patient attributes includes a first scan procedure; searching the database for a patient record of a previous patient that is most similar to the current patient based on the one or more first patient attributes and the one or more first scan attributes, wherein the patient record includes one or more second patient attributes and one or more second scan attributes; comparing the first scan procedure with a second scan procedure in the patient record; and In response to the first scan procedure being matched to the second scan procedure, a scan duration is predicted based on the patient record to generate a predicted scan duration for a current patient.

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