Methods and systems for analyzing and reporting medical images

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11308147-B2
Application number	US-201414201769-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2014
Priority date	Sep 8, 2011
Publication date	Apr 19, 2022
Grant date	Apr 19, 2022

Abstract

A method for providing medical diagnostics comprises providing access to one or more platforms capable of distributing one or more applications for implementing a method. The method comprises retrieving, with the aid of a processor, one or more images from an image database or an imaging device. The one or more images can define a set of images. Next, with the aid of a processor, whether each of the images is of medical interest to a reviewing physician is determined. One or more images can then be provided to a display and analysis system for review by a reviewing physician. The one or more images can be provided with an image that is representative of the set of images.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
retrieving, by a computer system, scan data of a predetermined region of a patient's body, the scan data comprising at least one image of the predetermined region;
automatically analyzing, using the computer system, the scan data to identify an abnormality relating to the patient's condition using an image processing algorithm;
automatically performing, using the computer system, quantitative measurements relating to the abnormality using image analysis, wherein the quantitative measurements are associated with at least one of a distance, a cross-sectional area, and a volume relating to the patient's condition;
automatically identifying, using the computer system, a representative image from the scan data based on the identified abnormality and the quantitative measurements relating to the abnormality;
automatically generating, using the computer system, an analysis report including at least one of the representative image and the quantitative measurements associated with the representative image;
retrieving, using the computer system, a historical analysis report of the predetermined region of the patient's body, wherein the historical analysis report includes at least one of a historical representative image and quantitative measurements associated with the historical representative image;
automatically comparing, using the computer system, the quantitative measurements relating to the abnormality in the analysis report with the quantitative measurements relating to the abnormality in the historical analysis report to identify a change in the patient's condition;
determining, using a machine learning model, a change in diagnosis associated with the patient based at least in part on the identified change in the patient's condition, the change in diagnosis being indicative of a potential problem in a historical diagnosis or a progression of the patient's condition, wherein the machine learning model was generated by:
receiving a plurality of final reports associated with the physician and a corresponding plurality of preliminary reports generated by an initial machine learning model;
comparing the plurality of final reports by the physician with the corresponding plurality of preliminary reports to adjust the initial machine learning model to more closely match the plurality of final reports; and
further refining the initial machine learning model based at least in part on patient outcome information relating to patient responsiveness to treatment, the treatment being associated with conditions identified in the plurality of preliminary reports generated by the initial machine learning model;

and
presenting, using the computer system, a preliminary report associated with the change in diagnosis to a physician for review, wherein the preliminary report associated with the change in diagnosis includes at least one of (i) the representative image and historical representative image, (ii) the quantitative measurements relating to the abnormality in the analysis report and the quantitative measurements relating to the abnormality in the historical analysis report, and (iii) the change in diagnosis determined by the machine learning model.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the abnormality is determined using comparable images or severity range lookup tables based on the patient's condition.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising retrieving data from one or more additional information source.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the one or more additional information source includes one or more of the following: news articles, or data from one or more additional patients.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the additional information is included in the analysis report.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the additional information is used to analyze the plurality of images associated with the patient.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising detecting one or more medical conditions of the patient based on using the additional information to analyze the plurality of images associated with the patient.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more additional patients shares one or more peer group attribute with the patient.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing an alert if parameters associated with the plurality of images fall within one or more boundary parameters, wherein the one or more boundary parameters associated with the plurality of images.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising retrieving, from a memory location coupled to the processor, data sets associated with the one or more peer group attributes.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analysis report comprises diagnostic data.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the diagnostic data comprises one or more of the following: volume, attributes, measurements, statistics, examples from one or more similar cases of an additional subject, and examples from one or more articles.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising extracting one or more time-dependent attributes from the diagnostic data.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising sorting the diagnostic data of the subject according to one or more of the following peer group attributes: age, gender, life style, habits, disease, and stage of disease.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the diagnostic data comprises two or more of the following: volume, attributes, measurements, statistics, examples from one or more similar cases of an additional subject, and examples from one or more articles.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the diagnostic data comprises three or more of the following: volume, attributes, measurements, statistics, examples from one or more similar cases of an additional subject, and examples from one or more articles.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of images are from a first time point, and wherein the historical analysis report includes time-dependent attributes of one or more images of the patient from a second time point, wherein the second time point precedes the first time point.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising comparing time-dependent attributes of the set of images of the first time point with historical data and quantifying changes in time-dependent attributes between the first time point and the second time point.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising generating information on the quantified changes in time-dependent attributes between the first time point and the second time point of at least one image of the set of images, wherein the quantified changes enable tracking a medical progress of said subject.

20. The method of claim 1 , further comprising designating an image priority, wherein the image priority is based on comparing each of the plurality of images to the plurality of images.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the designating an image priority is further based on at least one of additional information and the historical analysis report.

22. The method of claim 20 , wherein the image priority includes a designation of high, medium, or low priority.

23. The method of claim 20 , wherein the image priority includes a designation of a non-negative integer, wherein higher priority images are assigned a lower numerical value.

24. The method of claim 22 , further comprising prioritizing the plurality of images.

25. The method of cla

Assignees

• Radlogics Inc
• Tel Hashomer Medical Res Infrastructure & Services Ltd

Inventors

• Becker Moshe
• Foley Robert M
• Konen Eliahu
• Mayer Arnaldo

Classifications

• G16H15/00 Primary

  ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof · CPC title

• G16H30/20

  for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS · CPC title

• G16H50/20

  for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems · CPC title

• G06F16/50 Primary

  of still image data · CPC title