Medical Image Retrieval System with Region of Interest Alignment
Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical image retrieval systems require doctors to perform repetitive and time-consuming tasks to find similar medical images for diagnosis, as the position and size of regions of interest vary across images, leading to decreased efficiency and accuracy.
Innovation Solution
A method for controlling an information terminal with a touch panel display that retrieves medical images by detecting specification information indicating a region of interest in a target image, receiving similar images with corresponding regions of interest, and displaying them in a way that maintains the region of interest at a consistent position and size across images, allowing for efficient comparison.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If doctors manually search for similar medical images in traditional retrieval systems, then they can find reference images for diagnosis, but the process requires repetitive and time-consuming operations to locate and compare regions of interest
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-processes medical images to detect and extract regions of interest (ROIs) before the doctor needs to compare images. By automatically identifying and marking ROIs in advance, the system eliminates the need for doctors to manually search and locate relevant areas when comparing similar images, thus saving time and improving efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates and displays copied versions of medical images with their regions of interest automatically aligned and overlaid. By generating standardized copies with consistent ROI positioning, the system enables doctors to quickly compare similar regions across different images without manual intervention, reducing the time required for diagnostic comparison
2Ease of operation
If the position and size of regions of interest vary across different medical images, then each image displays its unique anatomical features, but doctors must perform repetitive tasks to locate and compare corresponding regions
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically adjusts the parameters (position and size) of displayed image regions by detecting specification information from each medical image. By dynamically changing display parameters based on detected ROI characteristics, the system aligns corresponding regions across different images, making comparison easier without requiring complex manual alignment procedures
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the mechanical/manual process of aligning and comparing image regions with an automated computer vision-based detection and alignment system. By using algorithms to detect specification information and automatically position ROIs, the system eliminates the need for doctors to manually adjust and align images, simplifying the comparison process while handling the complexity behind the scenes
Data Source
AI summary
A method for controlling an information terminal causes a computer of the information terminal to receive, from a case retrieval system, a plurality of similar medical images having a feature quantity of a region of interest and a certain degree of similarity in accordance with the region of interest included in a target medical image, displays a display screen displaying the plurality of received similar medical images on a touch panel display, the display screen including a display region in which at least some of the plurality of received similar medical images are displayed, displays, if selection of a first similar medical image from among the at least some of the plurality of received similar medical images displayed in the display region is detected, the first similar medical image across the display region, and displays, if a swipe operation performed on the first similar medical image is detected, a second similar medical image, which has second highest similarity next to the first similar medical image among the plurality of similar medical images, in the display region such that a corresponding region of interest included in the second similar medical image is located at a certain position in the display region.