Medical information processing apparatus and medical information processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2026094692-A1
Application number	US-202519331478-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 17, 2025
Priority date	Sep 30, 2024
Publication date	Apr 2, 2026
Grant date	—

Abstract

A medical information processing apparatus according to an embodiment includes processing circuitry. The processing circuitry acquires a plurality of images of a target organ captured in time series. The processing circuitry specifies, from each of the images, a target organ region where the target organ is depicted. The processing circuitry specifies, from each of the images, a device region where a device attached to the target organ is depicted. The processing circuitry specifies, based on the target organ region and the device region, an index relating to a state of the target organ to which the device is attached. The index is specified from change in a relative position of the device with respect to the target organ in a specific attention direction. An embodiment discloses a medical information processing method.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A medical information processing apparatus comprising
processing circuitry configured to:
acquire a plurality of images of a target organ captured in time series;
specify, in each of the images, a target organ region where the target organ is depicted;
specify, in each of the images, a device region where a device attached to the target organ is depicted; and
specify, based on the target organ region and the device region, an index relating to a state of the target organ to which the device is attached, the index being specified from change in a relative position of the device with respect to the target organ in a specific attention direction.

2 . The medical information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the images are three-dimensional images of the target organ captured in time series, the processing circuity is further configured to
specify, in each of the images, attention coordinates being three-dimensional coordinates of one point included in the device region, and
specify, in each of the images, a long axis direction of the device in a three-dimensional space as the attention direction based on the device region, and
the index is an amount of variation of a distance between the attention coordinates and the target organ region in the attention direction.

3 . The medical information processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the processing circuitry is further configured to
acquire, at different time points, the images of the target organ captured in time series,
specify average coordinates of the target organ at each of the different time points, the average coordinates being specified from the target organ region specified in each of the images,
specify a maximum position and a minimum position in the attention direction from among the average coordinates at each of the different time points, and
calculate, as the amount of variation, an absolute value of a difference between a first distance and a second distance, the first distance being a distance between the attention coordinates and the maximum position in the attention direction, the second distance being a distance between the attention coordinates and the minimum position in the attention direction.

4 . The medical information processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to specify, as the attention direction, a first principal component obtained through a principal component analysis with respect to coordinate information about each pixel included in the device region specified in each of the images.

5 . The medical information processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to
specify the device region by three feature points corresponding to three edge points of the device, specify, as the attention coordinates, a center of gravity of the three feature points, and specify, as the attention direction, an extending direction of a line segment from the attention coordinates toward a midpoint, the line segment connecting between the attention coordinates and the midpoint that connects respective three-dimensional coordinates of two feature points corresponding to two edge points in a short-length direction of the device among the three feature points.

6 . The medical information processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to
display, on a display, the index along with an image indicating the maximum position and the minimum position of the attention coordinates, or display, on the display, a graph indicating a time-series change in the calculated index.

7 . The medical information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to correct the index in accordance with the size of the device or the number of the devices.

8 . The medical information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the processing circuitry is further configured to
specify a reference plane of the target organ,
specify, in each of the images, attention coordinates being three-dimensional coordinates of one point included in the device region, and
specify a normal direction of the reference plane as the attention direction, and
the index relating to the state of the target organ is an amount of variation of a distance between the reference plane and the attention coordinates in the attention direction.

9 . The medical information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the target organ is a mitral valve of the heart, the device serves to grip tip ends of an anterior leaflet and a posterior leaflet of the mitral valve, and the index is a numerical value indirectly indicating tension of the mitral valve in a state of being gripped by the device.

10 . A medical information processing method implemented by a computer, the method comprising:
acquiring a plurality of images of a target organ captured in time series; specifying, in each of the images, a target organ region where the target organ is depicted; specifying, in each of the images, a device region where a device attached to the target organ is depicted; and specifying, based on the target organ region and the device region, an index relating to a state of the target organ to which the device is attached, the index being specified from change in a relative position of the device with respect to the target organ in a specific attention direction.

Assignees

• Canon Medical Systems Corp

Inventors

• Kawashima Keitaro
• Aoyama Gakuto

Classifications

• G06T2207/30048

  Heart; Cardiac · CPC title

• G06T2207/10136

  3D ultrasound image · CPC title

• G06T7/20

  Analysis of motion (motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51) · CPC title

• G16H30/20 Primary

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

• G06T7/0012 Primary

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title