US-12626792-B2 - Healthcare network

US12626792B2US 12626792 B2US12626792 B2US 12626792B2US-12626792-B2

Abstract

A system is used to control operation of a user device. An association between a medical condition and one or more decision trees is maintained. Each decision tree includes nodes organised in a tree structure originating at a root node and terminating at leaf nodes via branch nodes. The nodes are linked to each other via outputs and each output causes the system to differently control operation of the user device. Responsive to receiving medical information associated with the patient, using the association, a decision tree is identified. For the root node of the identified decision tree: a first node is selected, responsive to receiving data indicative of a first output regarding the root node; the user device is caused to retrieve medical information from one or more data sources based on the first node; and the retrieved medical information is caused to be displayed on the user device.

Inventors

Sven Kohle
Saulius Archipovas
Felix Ritter
Michael Rusitska
Simon Allen-Raffl
Christian Tietjen
Marcus Thaele
Gerardo Hermosillo Valadez
Steffen WEICHERT
Johannes BAECK
Felix NENSA

Assignees

SIEMENS HEALTHCARE GMBH

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20220922
Priority Date: 20180307

Claims (20)

1 . A system configured to control operation of a user device, the user device being configured for use by a radiologist when analysing medical information associated with a current patient, the system comprising: at least one processor, the at least one processor configured to execute machine-readable instructions, that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system at least to provide at least one machine learning system that organizes actions at various diagnostic stages, each of the at least one machine learning systems causing the system to control operation of the user device differently, identify, in response to receiving first medical information associated with the current patient, an identified machine learning system from the at least one machine learning systems, retrieve second medical information, different from the first medical information, from at least one of a plurality of disparate data sources based at least on the identified machine learning system, and control operation of the user device based on the at least one of the plurality of disparate data sources from which the second medical information is retrieved by causing the user device to display one or more of a plurality of image processing functions usable for processing the retrieved second medical information.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the machine-readable instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: maintain a state parameter indicative of a diagnostic stage; and cause the user device to present at least a part of the retrieved second medical information based on the state parameter.
3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: cause the user device, in response to receiving an input from the radiologist, to present at least a part of the retrieved second medical information, the part based on a combination of the input and the state parameter.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the medical information is retrieved based on at least one of: data indicative of the current patient; data indicative of the radiologist; data indicative of a medical condition; data indicative of one or more guidelines; data indicative of one or more legal regulations; data indicative of a customisation parameter; and data indicative of a user setting.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the retrieved second medical information comprises data indicative of at least one of: medical information associated with the current patient; medical information associated with one or more further patients; and expert medical knowledge.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: identify a further radiologist based at least on the identified machine learning system; and cause the user device to facilitate communication between the radiologist and the further radiologist.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: process at least a part of the retrieved second medical information based at least on a parameter; and thereafter cause at least a part of the second medical information processed to be displayed on the user device.
8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the parameter comprises at least one of: data acquired based upon monitoring of prior actions of the radiologist while navigating the identified machine learning system; and data indicative of a protocol associated with a medical condition.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: prepare a report, in response to using the identified machine learning system, based on a navigation path through the identified machine learning system.
10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of disparate data sources correspond to an output from a medical domain.
11 . A user device configured for use by a radiologist when analysing medical information associated with a current patient, the user device comprising: at least one processor configured to execute machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the user device to provision at least one machine learning system that organizes actions at various diagnostic stages, each of the at least one machine learning systems controlling operation of the user device differently, identify, in response to receiving first medical information associated with the current patient, an identified machine learning system from the at least one machine learning system, retrieve second medical information, different from the first medical information, from at least one of a plurality of disparate data sources based on learned preferences of the radiologist and on the identified machine learning system, and based on the at least one of the plurality of disparate data sources from which the second medical information is retrieved, control a display of one or more of a plurality of image processing functions usable for processing the retrieved second medical information.
12 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: maintain the state parameter indicative of a stage of treatment of the current patient; and cause the user device to present at least a part of the retrieved second medical information based on the state parameter.
13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: cause the user device, in response to receiving an input from the radiologist, to present at least a part of the retrieved second medical information based on a combination of the input and the state parameter.
14 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: process at least a part of the retrieved second medical information based at least on a parameter; and thereafter cause at least a part of the second medical information processed to be displayed on the user device.
15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the parameter comprises at least one of: data acquired based upon monitoring of prior actions of the radiologist while navigating the identified machine learning system to analyse medical information; and data indicative of a protocol associated with a medical condition.
16 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: prepare a report, in response to navigation of the identified machine learning system, based on a navigation path along the identified machine learning system.
17 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of disparate data sources include at least one of: a picture archiving and communication system (PACS), an electronic medical records (EMR) source, an emergency care summary (ECS) source, a key information summary (KIS) source, an electronic patient record (EPR) source, and a personal health record (PHR) source.
18 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the image processing functions includes one or more of a first function to measure one or more of a size, a volume, or a diameter of a lesion, a second function to measure a distance of the lesion to a predefined landmark or predefined organ, a third function to color map or zoom, or a fourth function to identify differences between medical images.
19 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: cause the user device to retrieve medical information from at least one of the plurality of disparate data sources additionally based on learned preferences of the radiologist.
20 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: cause the user device to process the retrieved second medical information based on at least the identified machine learning system; and cause the user device to display a result of processing the retrieved second medical information based on at least the identified machine learning system.

Description

PRIORITY STATEMENT The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/294,997, filed on Mar. 7, 2019, and hereby claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to European patent application number EP18160372.1 filed Mar. 7, 2018, the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. FIELD Embodiments of the invention generally relate, but not exclusively, to systems, methods and computer programs usable in controlling operation of a user device configured for use by a radiologist when analysing medical information associated with a patient. BACKGROUND A healthcare network enables accumulation and/or provisioning of healthcare, clinical and/or medical data. The healthcare network comprises a plurality of systems including devices and software applications. The devices may include medical devices (e.g. an ultrasound system or other imaging modalities for Computed Tomography, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging or the like), user devices for use by medical professionals and patients, specialist user terminals (e.g. nurse call system), servers and medical data sources. Software applications operate on, or in conjunction with or are accessible via, the devices, and may include communication applications that facilitate communication between devices on the healthcare network, medical applications configured to process medical information, applications configured to manage patient information, applications for managing knowledge in a healthcare environment, and applications configured to manage medical records. Typically, a healthcare network comprises several disparate data sources, which are rarely integrated so as to operate homogeneously. A radiologist, when analysing medical information associated with a patient, may need healthcare information from different data sources at different stages of the analysis. In addition, healthcare professionals from different disciplines may need different healthcare data for their analysis. For example, different members of a multidisciplinary group of healthcare professionals that reviews ongoing cases may need access to different healthcare data. However, as the data sources are not integrated, radiologists have to manually retrieve medical information from relevant data sources at every stage of their analysis. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a homogeneous healthcare environment in which information from disparate data sources can be seamlessly accessed and presented to a radiologist. In addition, it is desirable to automatically retrieve, adapt and/or update information from disparate data sources via a user interface based on a frame of reference. It is also desirable to automatically select and update functions provisioned via the user interface to enable a radiologist to analyse the presented medical information. SUMMARY In a first embodiment, there is provided a system operable to control operation of a user device, the user device being configured for use by a radiologist when analysing medical information associated with a patient, the system comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the system at least to perform at least: maintaining, in a database, an association between a medical condition and at least one of a plurality of decision trees, each decision tree comprising a plurality of nodes organised in a tree structure originating at a root node and terminating at a plurality of leaf nodes via a plurality of branch nodes, wherein the root node and each of the branch nodes have a plurality of outputs, each of the plurality of outputs links a node of the plurality of nodes to a further node of the plurality of nodes and wherein each output causes the system to differently control operation of the user device;in response to receiving medical information associated with the patient, identifying, based on the association, a decision tree from the plurality of decision trees; andfor the root node of the identified decision tree, performing a process comprising: in response to receiving data indicative of a first of a plurality of outputs in connection with the root node, selecting a first of the plurality of nodes;causing the user device to retrieve medical information from at least one of a plurality of data sources based on the first node; andcausing at least a part of the retrieved medical information to be displayed on the user device. In a second embodiment, there is provided a method of controlling operation of a user device, the user device being configured for use by a radiologist when analysing medical information associated with a patient, the method comprising: maintaining, in a database, an association between a medical condition and at least one of a plurality of decision trees, each decision tree comprising a plurality of nodes organised in a