JPH0677577B2 - Medical image capturing posture determination method - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for automatically discriminating a photographing position of a human body in a medical image such as a radiographic image.

(Prior Art) When a certain kind of phosphor is irradiated with radiation (X-ray, α-ray, β-ray, γ-ray, electron beam, ultraviolet ray, etc.), a part of this radiation energy is accumulated in the phosphor, It is known that when a phosphor is irradiated with excitation light such as visible light, the phosphor exhibits stimulated emission depending on the stored energy, and a phosphor having such a property is a stimulable phosphor (luminescent material). Exhaustible phosphor).

Using this stimulable phosphor, the radiation image information of a subject such as a human body is once recorded on a stimulable phosphor sheet, and the stimulable phosphor sheet is scanned with excitation light such as laser light to stimulate emission. Generates light, photoelectrically reads the resulting stimulated emission light to obtain an image signal, and based on this image signal, a radiation image of the subject is visible on a recording material such as a photographic photosensitive material or a display device such as a CRT. The present applicant has already proposed a radiation image information recording / reproducing system for outputting as. (JP-A-55-12429, JP-A-56-11395, etc.) This system is practical because it can record an image over an extremely wide radiation exposure area as compared with a conventional radiographic system using silver salt photography. Have advantages. That is, in the stimulable phosphor, it has been recognized that the amount of emitted light stimulated by excitation after storage is proportional to the radiation exposure amount over a very wide range,
Therefore, even if the radiation exposure amount fluctuates considerably due to various photographing conditions, the amount of stimulated emission light emitted from the stimulable phosphor sheet is read by the photoelectric conversion means by setting the reading gain to an appropriate value. A radiation image that is not affected by fluctuations in radiation exposure is obtained by converting it into an electrical signal and using this electrical signal to output a radiation image as a visible image on a recording material such as a photographic photosensitive material or a display device such as a CRT. be able to.

By the way, in the above system, in order to eliminate the influence of fluctuations in imaging conditions or to obtain a radiographic image with excellent observation and interpretation suitability, the recording state of the radiographic image information accumulated and recorded in the stimulable phosphor sheet, or the chest , A part of the subject such as the abdomen, a recording pattern determined by an imaging method such as simple imaging or contrast imaging (hereinafter, these are collectively referred to as “accumulated recording information”) for observation and interpretation. Grasping is performed prior to visual image output, the reading gain is adjusted to an appropriate value based on this accumulated recording information, and the recording scale factor is set so that the resolution is optimized according to the contrast of the recording pattern. When the image processing is determined and further image processing such as gradation processing is performed on the read image signal, it is desirable to optimally set the image processing conditions.

A method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-67240 is known as a method of grasping the accumulated record information of the radiation image prior to the output of the visible image. This method uses excitation light of a lower level than the excitation light to be emitted during a reading operation for obtaining a visible image for observation / interpretation (hereinafter referred to as “main reading”), in advance of the main reading. A reading operation (hereinafter referred to as "pre-reading") for grasping the accumulated record information of the radiation image accumulated and recorded on the stimulable phosphor sheet is performed, the outline of the accumulated record of the radiation image is grasped, and the main reading is performed. At this time, the read gain is appropriately adjusted based on the preread information, the recording scale factor is determined, or the image processing condition is determined.

According to the above method, since the recording state and recording pattern of the radiation image information accumulated and recorded on the stimulable phosphor sheet can be grasped in advance before the main reading, a reading system having a particularly wide dynamic range can be provided. Even if it is not used, the reading gain is adjusted appropriately based on this recorded information, the recording scale factor is determined, and the signal processing according to this recording pattern is performed on the electrical signal after reading, thereby making observation and interpretation. It is possible to obtain a radiation image with excellent suitability.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, when the reading condition and / or the image processing condition of the radiation image information is determined as described above, when the same subject is photographed in different photographing positions, the respective reproductions are performed. The density of the region of interest in the subject may change in the image. Hereinafter, this will be described in detail. For example, consider a case where the chest is photographed from the front as shown in FIG. 2A and a case where the chest is photographed from the side as shown in FIG. 2B in order to diagnose the thoracic spine. In the case of frontal imaging, the thoracic spine K, which is the region of interest, overlaps the mediastinum where it is difficult for radiation to pass therethrough. On the other hand, in lateral imaging, the thoracic vertebra K overlaps with the lung field P through which radiation easily penetrates. Therefore, in the stimulable phosphor sheet, the thoracic vertebra portion has a high accumulated radiation dose, and this portion becomes a high light emission amount portion. The maximum value Smax and the minimum value Smin of the image signal read from the stimulable phosphor sheet are used both in the case of frontal photography and in the case of lateral photography.
Since it does not change much, the reading condition and / or the image processing condition determined based on the maximum value Smax and the minimum value Smin as conventionally performed are almost the same in both cases. Therefore, when an image is read under such a reading condition and / or an image processing condition to obtain a reproduced image, the thoracic vertebra part has a relatively low density in the front image, while it has a relatively low density in the lateral image. It becomes a high concentration.

Further, it is conceivable to appropriately set the image processing condition based on the read image signal obtained by the main reading without performing the pre-reading as described above, but in such a case, the above problem similarly occurs. .

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, conventionally, when reading radiation image information from a stimulable phosphor sheet, it is necessary to determine in what position the subject is photographed on the sheet one by one. The reading conditions and / or the image processing conditions are input to the image processing apparatus, and the above-mentioned reading conditions and / or image processing conditions are set according to the input photographing body position information.

However, it is very troublesome to input the above-mentioned image-taking position information every time each stimulable phosphor sheet is read, and it is easy to mistakenly input the image-taking position information.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method capable of automatically discriminating a photographing position of a medical image recorded on the above-mentioned stimulable phosphor sheet or the like.

(Means for Solving Problems) A medical image capturing position determining method according to the present invention is an image signal obtained by a reading process from the above-mentioned stimulable phosphor sheet, that is, an image signal for transmitting a human body. , The distribution along a predetermined direction across the human body in the image is obtained, and the degree of matching between the pattern of this signal value distribution and a plurality of reference signal value distribution patterns defined in advance for each imaged body position of the image,
It is characterized in that the photographing position of the image is determined according to the degree of matching.

The degree of matching between the signal value distribution pattern and the reference signal value distribution pattern can be checked by various conventionally known pattern matching methods.

(Operation) For example, considering a radiographic image of the chest of a human body,
The signal value (density) distribution in the left-right direction of the image, which is shown by the straight line L in FIGS. 2A and 2B, that is, the signal value distribution in the direction perpendicular to the body axis, is roughly as shown in FIG. 3A in the front view image. On the other hand, in the side face photographed image, it is roughly as shown in FIG. 3B. That is, in the front photographed image (see FIG. 2A), the thoracic spine K and the mediastinum where radiation is difficult to pass through are located in the central portion in the left-right direction, while in the lateral photographed image (see FIG. 2B), The lung field P where radiation is satisfactorily transmitted is located in this region, and it is difficult for radiation to pass through the vicinity of both ends.
Is located, the distribution is as described above. The signal value distribution in the left-right direction of the image is as shown in FIG.
The signal value distribution of the pixel columns along the straight line L in FIG. 2B may be considered, or the distribution of the signal total value or average value of each pixel column in the direction substantially orthogonal to the straight line L may be considered.

Therefore, for example, the signal value distribution patterns shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B are stored in the storage means as the reference signal value distribution pattern of the front chest image and the reference signal value distribution pattern of the side image respectively. When the degree of matching between a distribution pattern of a certain image signal that carries a front image or a side image of the chest and the two reference signal value distribution patterns is examined, the distribution pattern of the image signal is the reference signal value of FIG. 3B. If it matches better with the reference signal value distribution pattern of FIG. 3A than the distribution pattern, it is possible to determine that the image carried by the image signal is a front image, and in the opposite case, it is a side image. it can.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a radiation image information recording / reproducing system configured to determine the imaged posture of a human body by the method of the present invention. This radiation image information recording / reproducing system basically includes a radiation image capturing unit 20 and a read-ahead reading unit 3
0, a main reading reading unit 40, and an image reproducing unit 50. In the radiation image capturing unit 20, radiation 102 is emitted from a radiation source 100 such as an X-ray tube toward a subject (examinee) 101. At the position where the radiation 102 transmitted through the subject 101 is irradiated, the stimulable phosphor sheet 103 for accumulating the radiation energy is arranged as described above, and the transmitted radiation of the subject 101 is placed on the stimulable phosphor sheet 103. Image information is accumulated and recorded.

The stimulable phosphor sheet 103 on which the radiation image information of the subject 101 is recorded in this manner is sent to the prereading reading unit 30 by the sheet transfer means 110 such as a transfer roller. The laser light 202 emitted from the laser light source 201 for pre-reading in the pre-reading reading section 30 passes through the filter 203 that cuts the wavelength region of the stimulated emission light emitted from the stimulable phosphor sheet 103 by the excitation of this laser light 202. After that, it is linearly deflected by an optical deflector 204 such as a galvanometer mirror, and is incident on the stimulable phosphor sheet 103 via a plane reflecting mirror 205. Here, the laser light source 201 is selected so that the wavelength range of the laser light 202 as the excitation light does not overlap with the wavelength range of the stimulated emission light emitted by the stimulable phosphor sheet 103. On the other hand, the phosphor sheet 103 is transferred in the direction of arrow 206 by the sheet transfer means 210 such as a transfer roller and is sub-scanned, and as a result, the entire surface of the phosphor sheet 103 is irradiated with the laser beam 202. Here, the emission intensity of the laser light source 201, the beam diameter of the laser light 202, the scanning speed of the laser light 202, and the transfer speed of the stimulable phosphor sheet 103 are the energy of the pre-read excitation light (laser light 202), which will be described later. It is selected to be smaller than that of the main reading performed by the main reading reading unit 40.

When the laser light 202 is irradiated as described above, the stimulable phosphor sheet 103 emits stimulated emission light of a light amount corresponding to the radiation energy stored and recorded in the stimulable phosphor sheet 103. Incident on. The stimulated emission light is guided through the light guide 207, emitted from the emission surface, and received by a photodetector 208 such as a photomultiplier.
On the light receiving surface of the photodetector 208, a filter that transmits only light in the wavelength region of stimulated emission light and cuts light in the wavelength region of excitation light is attached, and detects only stimulated emission light. I'm supposed to get it. The detected stimulated emission light is converted into an electric signal carrying the accumulated record information and amplified by the amplifier 209. The signal output from the amplifier 209 is digitized by the A / D converter 211 and input to the main reading control circuit 314 of the main reading reading unit 40 as the preread image signal Sp. The main reading control circuit 314, based on the accumulated recording information indicated by the preread image signal Sp, performs a reading gain setting value a, a recording scale factor setting value b, by a histogram analysis, for example.
The reproduction image processing condition setting value c is determined.

The stimulable phosphor sheet that has been read ahead as described above
103 is transferred to the reading unit 40 for main reading. Book reader 4
The laser light 302 emitted from the main reading laser light source 301 at 0 passes through the filter 303 that cuts the wavelength region of the stimulated emission light emitted from the stimulable phosphor sheet 103 by the excitation of the laser light 302, and then the beam The beam diameter is strictly adjusted by the expander 304, is linearly deflected by the optical deflector 305 such as a galvanometer mirror, and the stimulable phosphor sheet 1 is passed through the plane reflecting mirror 306.
03 incident on. An fθ lens 307 is arranged between the light deflector 305 and the plane reflecting mirror 306 so that the beam diameter of the laser light 302 scanning the stimulable phosphor sheet 103 becomes uniform. On the other hand, the stimulable phosphor sheet 103 is transferred in the direction of arrow 308 by the sheet transfer means 320 such as a transfer roller to be sub-scanned, and as a result, the stimulable phosphor sheet 10 is transferred.
The entire surface of 3 is irradiated with laser light. When the laser light 302 is thus irradiated, the stimulable phosphor sheet 103 emits stimulated emission light in an amount corresponding to the radiation energy stored and recorded therein, and this emission light is incident on the main reading light guide 309. To do. The stimulated emission light guided by repeating the total reflection in the main reading light guide 309 is emitted from the emission surface and is received by the photodetector 310 such as a photomultiplier. A filter that selectively transmits only the wavelength region of the stimulated emission light is attached to the light receiving surface of the photodetector 310,
The photodetector 310 is adapted to detect only stimulated emission light.

The output of the photodetector 310 that photoelectrically detects stimulated emission light indicating the radiation image recorded on the stimulable phosphor sheet 103 is the read gain based on the read gain set value a determined by the control circuit 314. Is amplified to an appropriate level electric signal by the amplifier 311 in which is set. The amplified electric signal is input to the A / D converter 312, converted into a digital signal with a recording scale factor suitable for the signal fluctuation width based on the recording scale factor setting value b, and the signal processing circuit 31.
Entered in 3. In the signal processing circuit 313, the digital signal is subjected to image processing (signal processing) such as gradation processing based on the reproduction image processing condition set value c so that a radiographic image excellent in observation and interpretation suitability is obtained, and output. To be done.

The read image signal (main read image signal) So output from the signal processing circuit 313 is input to the optical modulator 401 of the image reproducing unit 50. In the image reproducing section 50, the recording laser light source
The laser light 403 from 402 is modulated by the optical modulator 401 based on the main reading image signal So input from the signal processing circuit 313, deflected by the scanning mirror 404, and scanned on the photosensitive material 405 such as photographic film. . And photosensitive material 4
Reference numeral 05 is transferred in a direction (arrow 406 direction) orthogonal to the scanning direction in synchronization with the scanning, and a radiation image based on the main reading image signal So is output onto the photosensitive material 405. As a method for reproducing the radiation image, various methods such as the above-described CRT display can be adopted in addition to such a method.

Next, the method of the present invention for automatically discriminating the photographing position of the subject 101 will be described. The pre-reading image signal Sp output from the A / D converter 211 is input to the main reading control circuit 314 as described above and also to the imaging position determining circuit 500. FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the photographing body position determination circuit 500 in detail, which will be described below with reference to FIG.
The signal extraction / addition unit 511 of the photographing body position determination circuit 500 receives the pre-read image signal Sp, and extends from the image signal Sp in the image vertical direction (the direction orthogonal to the straight line L) in each pixel row G ₁ , G ₂ , G ₃ , …
The signals are extracted in units of G _n (see FIG. 5), and these signals are added for each pixel column. Each of the n kinds of addition signals H ₁ , H ₂ , H ₃ , ... H _n thus obtained represents the total density value of each pixel column, and represents the overall density distribution in the horizontal direction of the image. The average value of the extracted signals for each pixel column may be used instead of this addition signal. That is, this average value also shows the density distribution in the left-right direction of the image as in the above.
If the image value recorded on the stimulable phosphor sheet 103 is a chest image, the front-view image,
The side view images are as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, respectively. Hereinafter, this chest image will be described as an example.

The approximate signal value distribution patterns shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B are respectively the above-mentioned addition signal H based on the pre-reading image signal Sp related to some typical front chest image and side image, respectively. ₁ , H ₂ , H ₃ , ... H _n can be obtained, sent to the function determination unit 512, and can be obtained by averaging or smoothing. Then, this function determination unit 512
Functions g ₁ (i) and g ₂ (i) approximating the typical signal value distribution pattern obtained as described above are obtained (i indicates the horizontal position of the image). Such a function can be obtained as a function composed of a high-order polynomial, for example, by using the multiple regression analysis method. These functions g ₁ (i), g ₂
(I) is stored in the storage unit 515 as the reference signal value distribution pattern for the front side image and the side side image, respectively.

When determining the imaging position of each radiation image, the above-mentioned addition signals H ₁ , H ₂ , H ₃ , ... H _n are calculated based on the pre-reading image signal Sp that carries the radiation image, and the signal extraction and addition unit 511. Are formed one by one in. The distribution pattern of the actual addition signal for each image, that is, the density distribution pattern is as shown in FIG. 3C, for example, and can be defined as the function f (i) of the pixel position i. The information F indicating the function f (i) is sent to the mismatch measure calculation unit 513. The mismatch measure calculation unit 513 obtains a mismatch measure between the signal value distribution pattern indicated by the information F and the two reference signal value distribution patterns. That is, the calculation unit 513 uses the information F
And receives the function g from the storage means 515.
Receiving information J ₁ and J ₂ indicating ₁ (i) and g ₂ (i), each mismatch measure Ask for. Information indicating the mismatch measures S ₁ and S ₂ thus obtained is sent to the discriminating unit 514.

The discrimination unit 514 discriminates that the image carried by the prefetch image signal Sp is the side face photographed image if S ₁ > S ₂ , and outputs the correction signal T. Conversely, if S ₁ <S ₂ , the front photographed image. Therefore, the correction signal T is not output. This discrimination will be explained in detail. For example, if S ₁ <S _2, then the mismatch measure between the function f (i) and the function g ₁ (i) is
smaller than the mismatch measure with g ₂ (i), that is, the function f
Since (i) matches (matches) the function g ₁ (i) better than the function g ₂ (i), the signal value distribution pattern obtained one by one based on the prefetch image signal Sp is as shown in FIG. 3B. It is possible to determine that they are better matched to the reference signal value distribution pattern of FIG. 3A than the reference signal value distribution pattern. S ₁ <
In the case of S _2, as a matter of course vice versa.

The correction signal T is sent to the gain correction circuit 507 shown in FIG. Upon receiving the correction signal T, the correction circuit 507 corrects the read gain setting value a determined by the main read control circuit 314 as described above so as to reduce the read gain. As described above, when the image reading condition and the image processing condition are constant, the density of the portion of the thoracic vertebra K in the reproduced image of the lateral chest image becomes higher than that in the front image. Therefore, if S ₁ > S ₂ as described above, that is, if the reading gain is reduced during reading of the side face image, the main reading image signal So becomes a low level as a whole, and the photosensitive material 405
The density of the reconstructed radiation image recorded on the disc becomes low as a whole. As a result, the thoracic vertebra K in the reproduced image of the chest side surface
The density of the part of the arrow becomes equal to the density of the thoracic vertebra in the reproduced image of the front image. The appropriate correction amount of the reading gain can be obtained based on experiments or experience.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the added value of each pixel column of the image signal Sp is obtained, but the image signal Sp of each pixel is compared with a predetermined threshold value in advance to be binarized, and the binarized data For the above, the same processing as described above may be performed.

Further, the signal value distribution in the direction along the straight line L in FIGS. 2A and 2B is calculated by calculating the image signal total value or average value for each of the pixel columns G ₁ , G ₂ , G ₃ , ... G _n described above. In addition to the above, as shown in FIG. 6, each pixel D ₁ , D ₂ , D _{3 of} the pixel row along the straight line L,
...... Since the signal value for D _n shows the distribution as it is,
You may obtain | require by extracting these signals.

Moreover, as the mismatch measure, in addition to the above-mentioned ones, for example, Value of f (1) -g (1), f (2) -g
(2), ... May be specified by the maximum value or the like of f (N) -g (N).

In the above example, the front view image is read with the read gain determined by the main reading control circuit 314 as it is, and the read gain is corrected to a low value when reading the side view image. The captured image may be read with the read gain determined by the main reading control circuit 314 as it is, and the read gain may be corrected to be high when the front captured image is read. In addition, in order to adjust the density of the reproduced image, in addition to changing the reading gain as described above,
The condition of the recording scale factor in the A / D converter 312 may be changed, or the condition of the gradation processing in the signal processing circuit 313 may be changed. Further, these concentration adjusting methods may be used together.

Although the embodiment for discriminating the front photographed image and the side photographed image of the chest has been described above, the present invention can be applied to discriminate other regions, and further other photographing positions.
That is, if the imaged body postures are different in the image of a certain common portion, the signal value distribution patterns for the images of the respective photographed body positions often take different basic patterns from each other. It is possible to obtain the degree of matching between the distribution pattern and the actual distribution pattern of the image signal, and correctly determine the imaging posture according to the degree of matching.

Further, in the above embodiments, the pre-reading image signal Sp is used to determine the photographing position, but the pre-reading as described above is not performed, and the signal processing circuit 31 is based on the main reading image signal So.
When the image processing condition in 3 is set, the photographing position may be determined by using the main reading image signal So. Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the density of the reproduced image is corrected according to the discriminated body posture, but the present invention is of course applicable when discriminating the body posture for other purposes.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the stimulable phosphor sheet 103
The image-recording position of the image recorded in the above is determined, but the present invention determines the image-recording position of the image recorded in such a stimulable phosphor sheet 103. Of course, the present invention can be applied not only to the radiation image recorded on the phosphor sheet 103 but also to determine the imaging posture of other medical images.

(Effects of the Invention) As described in detail above, according to the method for discriminating the medical image capturing body position of the present invention, the medical image capturing body posture can be automatically and accurately determined. Therefore, if this method is applied to the radiation image information recording / reproducing system as described above, the densities of the regions of interest in the reproduced image can be made uniform even if the imaged posture of the subject is different. It is possible to greatly improve the diagnostic performance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a radiation image information recording / reproducing system for discriminating an imaged body position by the method of the present invention, and FIGS. 2A and 2B are schematic diagrams showing examples of a radiation image in which an imaged body position of a subject is different, FIGS. 3A and 3B are graphs showing basic pattern examples of density distribution in a predetermined direction of a radiographic image taken by changing the body position of the subject, and FIG. 3C is an example of an actual image density distribution pattern. A graph shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of an apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are explanatory views for explaining signal extraction for obtaining a density distribution according to the present invention. . 20 ... Radiation image photographing unit, 30 ... Pre-reading reading unit 40 ... Main-reading reading unit, 100 ... Radiation source 101 ... Subject, 102 ... Radiation 103 ... Accumulable phosphor sheet 201 ... Pre-reading laser light source 202 ... Pre-reading laser light 204 ... Pre-reading light deflector 208 ... Pre-reading light detector 210 ... Pre-reading sheet transport means 301 ... Main reading laser light source 302 ... Main reading laser light 305 ... Main reading optical deflector 310 ... Main reading optical detector 311 ... Amplifier 312 ... A / D converter, 313 ... Signal processing circuit 314 ... Control circuit 320 ... Main reading sheet transfer means 500 ... Imaging position determination circuit 507 ... Reading gain correction circuit 511 ... Signal extraction / addition unit, 512 ... Function determination unit 513 each pixel of ... mismatch measure calculation section 514 ... determination unit, 515 ... storage unit a ... read gain setting value b ... From the scale factor setting value c ... image processing condition setting value D ₁ to D _n ... predetermined direction parallel to the pixel columns F ... the function of the concentration distribution pattern To information G ₁ ~G _n ... pixel columns in the direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction J _1, J ₂ ... Information Sp ... prefetching image signal indicating the function of the reference density distribution pattern, So. ... real reading image signals T ... correction signal

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A distribution of an image signal for carrying a transparent image of a human body along a predetermined direction across the human body in the image is obtained, and a pattern of this signal value distribution and a plurality of standards defined in advance for each imaged body position of the image. A method for determining a medical image capturing position of a medical image, characterized in that a degree of matching with a signal value distribution pattern is obtained and the image capturing position of the image is determined according to the degree of matching. 2. The distribution of the signal values is a distribution of a total value or an average value of the signal values in each of the pixel rows in a direction substantially orthogonal to the predetermined direction, and the distribution of the signal values is used. Method for determining the postural position of medical images. 3. The medical image capturing posture determining method according to claim 1, wherein a distribution of signal values in a pixel row parallel to the predetermined direction is used as the distribution of signal values.