Pathological Diagnosis Support Using Numbered Confirmation Frames
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Pathologists face a high burden in diagnosing cancer through pathological images due to the need to meticulously examine large areas for small, potentially overlooked abnormalities, and existing highlighting methods are insufficient for reliably identifying such points of interest.
Innovation Solution
A system and device that utilize an image analysis server to divide pathological images into sections, calculate abnormality scores, and assign confirmation frames with frame numbers, displaying these on a pathologist's terminal to highlight areas requiring attention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the pathological diagnosis image is highlighted in different colors to indicate abnormalities, then the pathologist's burden is reduced, but extremely small points of interest may still be overlooked
Solution Approach 1:
The pathological diagnosis image is divided into multiple divided images, and confirmation frames are selectively applied only to regions with high abnormality scores. This segmentation approach reduces the overall burden on the pathologist while maintaining reliability by focusing attention on critical areas rather than requiring review of the entire image.
Solution Approach 2:
Different display treatments are applied to different regions of the image based on their abnormality scores. Regions with high abnormality scores receive confirmation frames and frame numbers for prominent display, while other regions are displayed normally. This local differentiation ensures small but critical points of interest are not overlooked while reducing burden on non-critical areas.
2Reliability
If the pathologist checks the entire pathological diagnosis image carefully, then detection reliability is improved, but the time and effort required increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis by calculating abnormality scores for all divided images before pathologist review. Confirmation frames and frame numbers are pre-assigned to high-scoring regions, allowing the pathologist to focus immediately on critical areas without needing to examine the entire image thoroughly, thus reducing diagnosis time while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The manual mechanical process of thorough image scanning by the pathologist is replaced with an automated image analysis system that calculates abnormality scores and generates confirmation frames. This substitution reduces the time and effort required while maintaining or improving detection reliability through systematic automated analysis.
3Reliability
If confirmation frames are displayed for all divided images, then no points of interest are overlooked, but the display becomes cluttered and harder to interpret
Solution Approach 1:
Confirmation frames and frame numbers are displayed selectively only in regions with high abnormality scores rather than uniformly across all divided images. This selective display maintains detection reliability by highlighting all critical points of interest while preserving interpretability by avoiding clutter in low-risk areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The display is segmented into critical regions (with confirmation frames) and non-critical regions (without frames). This segmentation allows the pathologist to quickly identify and focus on areas requiring attention while ignoring areas that are less likely to contain points of interest, improving both reliability and interpretability.
Data Source
AI summary
This pathological diagnosis support system comprises an image diagnosis server and a pathologist's personal computer. The image diagnosis server uses an image analysis unit to set confirmation frames in which the abnormality score exceeds a threshold value, assigns a frame number of “1,”“2,” or “3” to each of the confirmation frames, and sends setting information about the pathological diagnosis image and the confirmation frames and the frame number “1,”“2,” or “3” of the confirmation frames to the pathologist's personal computer. When the pathological diagnosis image is displayed on a display unit, the personal computer controls the display unit so that the confirmation frames and the frame number “1,”“2,” or “3” are displayed within the pathological diagnosis image, and the frame number “1,”“2,” or “3” is displayed on the outside of the pathological diagnosis image.