NLP Engine for Radiology Pathology Report Correlation

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Solution Overview

Problem

Radiologists face challenges in efficiently correlating radiology and pathology reports, leading to difficulties in determining diagnostic accuracy and misdiagnosis rates, which hinders timely adjustments to their workflow and quality control within healthcare standards.

Innovation Solution

A system and method utilizing a natural language processor engine to extract and correlate radiological and pathology information, with a visualization interface to track discordance and monitor diagnostic performance, reducing the time spent on generating clinical histories and enhancing clinical workflow.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If radiologists manually review patient medical histories to correlate radiology and pathology reports, then diagnostic accuracy can be assessed, but the time required increases significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvediagnostic accuracyVSAvoidtime to correlate reports

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an intermediary system comprising a natural language processing engine and correlation module that automatically matches radiology reports with pathology reports using patient identifiers and temporal relationships. This intermediary handles the time-consuming manual correlation task while preserving diagnostic accuracy through systematic comparison of findings.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces the mechanical manual review process with an automated computational system that uses natural language processing algorithms to extract, compare, and correlate medical report data. This substitution eliminates manual labor while maintaining or improving the precision of diagnostic accuracy assessment.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Measurement precision

If detailed patient medical histories are compiled to improve diagnostic correlation, then the quality of analysis improves, but the complexity of data management increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecorrelation qualityVSAvoiddata management complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the complex medical history data into structured components including patient identifiers, report timestamps, radiology findings, and pathology results. The natural language processing engine further segments text data into extractable entities and relationships, making the data manageable and analyzable without overwhelming complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent transforms unstructured medical text data into structured parameters and standardized formats that can be systematically compared. By changing the state of data from free-text to structured parameters, the system improves correlation quality while reducing management complexity through standardized data representation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

3Reliability

If radiologists spend more time analyzing patient histories to reduce misdiagnosis rates, then diagnostic quality improves, but productivity decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvediagnostic qualityVSAvoidradiologist throughput

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a self-service system where the correlation and analysis of medical reports is performed automatically without requiring radiologist intervention. The system independently matches reports, extracts findings, identifies concordance or discordance, and presents results to radiologists, thereby maintaining diagnostic quality while preserving radiologist productivity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The patent performs preliminary correlation and analysis of radiology and pathology reports before radiologists need to review them. By pre-processing the data and preparing correlation results in advance, the system ensures diagnostic quality is maintained while radiologists can quickly review pre-analyzed cases without time-consuming manual correlation tasks.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

4Measurement precision

If manual correlation methods are used to track discordance cases, then diagnostic performance can be monitored, but the system lacks automation

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveperformance monitoring accuracyVSAvoidcorrelation automation

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSExtent of automation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements automated feedback mechanisms where the correlation module continuously compares radiology and pathology reports, automatically tracks discordance cases, and provides performance metrics to radiologists and administrators. This automated feedback loop maintains precise performance monitoring while establishing full automation in the correlation and tracking processes.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS10901978B2System and method for correlation of pathology reports and radiology reports

Publication Date: 2021.01.26 KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS NV

AI summary

A system for correlating patient radiology and pathology reports to track discordance among radiology and pathology diagnoses includes a natural language processor engine which extracts radiological information and pathology information. A correlation module correlates the radiology information and pathology information in a specific time period. A visualization graphical user interface indicates the correlation of radiology information and pathology information in a patient history. A tracking module which tracks misdiagnosis cases.