US-12626821-B2 - Systems and methods for automatic benchmarking for radiology

US12626821B2US 12626821 B2US12626821 B2US 12626821B2US-12626821-B2

Abstract

Various methods and systems are provided for a medical system, comprising a client device having a graphical user interface (GUI) and a display device, the client device operably coupled to a network, and an analytics tool configured with instructions stored on a memory and executable by a processor to receive a first user input via the client device, identify values of at least one variable of interest (VOI) from a subject of a benchmark target variable which differ by at least a first threshold amount from other values of the same VOI from other subjects of the benchmark target variable within a benchmarking context, generate and output for display on the display device a causal graph illustrating influences of different study variables on an identified VOI value, and automatically update the causal graph and display thereof based on a second user input to adjust at least one study variable.

Inventors

Philippe Gerner
Estelle Spasic
María del Pilar Pujadas
Hugo Laullier

Assignees

GE Precision Healthcare LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230323

Claims (9)

1 . A medical system, comprising: a client device having a graphical user interface (GUI) and a display device, the client device operably coupled to a network; an imaging device; and an analytics tool operably coupled to the imaging device and configured with instructions stored on a memory and executable by a processor to: receive a first user input via the client device, identify values of at least one variable of interest (VOI) from a subject of a benchmark target variable which differ by at least a first threshold amount from other values of the same VOI from other subjects of the benchmark target variable within a benchmarking context, wherein identifying the values of the at least one VOI from the subject of the benchmark target variable which differ by at least the first threshold amount comprises matching the at least one VOI from the subject with the other values of the same VOI from the other subjects having similar study variables and performing a statistical analysis to identify the at least one VOI which differ by at least the first threshold amount, identify a candidate explanation of why the values from the subject of the benchmark target variable differs from the other values from the other subjects of the benchmark target variable, generate and output for display on the display device a causal graph illustrating influences of different study variables on an identified VOI value, wherein nodes of the causal graph each represent a factor of the different study variables, wherein the different study variables comprise patient characteristics, device characteristics, operator, protocol, and parameters of the protocol, automatically update the causal graph and display thereof in real time, based on a second user input to adjust at least one study variable of the different study variables, and transmit study variable values of the updated causal graph to the imaging device, wherein the updated causal graph illustrates a simulated scan; wherein the imaging device is a computed tomography system or an x-ray angiography system, operably configured to: receive the transmitted study variable values of the updated causal graph, automatically update imaging study parameters of an imaging procedure based on the updated causal graph, perform the imaging procedure using the updated imaging study parameters of the imaging procedure to achieve a desired VOI value, and send radiation dose data of the imaging procedure to the analytics tool.
2 . The medical system of claim 1 , wherein the first user input is input into the client device via the GUI and includes selection of one or more VOI indicating a relative radiation dose level, the benchmark target variable defining a population to be studied, and the benchmarking context defining a target set of historical studies to be compared.
3 . The medical system of claim 1 , wherein study variable standards, the value of the at least one VOI and associated study variables, and information regarding relationships among study variables is stored in a radiation dose database (RDD) operably coupled to the analytics tool via the network.
4 . The medical system of claim 3 , wherein generating the causal graph includes retrieving study variable standards from the RDD, comparing study variables used to capture the identified VOI value to the study variable standards, identifying one or more study variables used to capture the identified VOI value which differ from the respective study variable standards by at least a second threshold amount, and directly connecting a node representing each of the one or more differing study variables to a node representing the identified VOI value.
5 . The medical system of claim 4 , wherein generating the causal graph further includes retrieving information regarding relationships among study variables from the RDD, generating a node for each of the study variables used to capture the identified VOI value which do not differ from the respective study variable standards by at least the second threshold, and connecting the nodes to each other and to the node representing the identified VOI value based on the information regarding relationships among study variables.
6 . The medical system of claim 1 , wherein the second user input is input into the client device via the GUI and includes at least one of addition of a study variable to the causal graph, removal of a study variable from the causal graph, and/or adjustment to a value of a study variable of the causal graph.
7 . The medical system of claim 6 , wherein automatically updating the causal graph and display thereof includes retrieving information regarding relationships of the added, removed, and/or adjusted study variables from a radiation dose database, adding and/or removing one or more nodes representing the respective added and/or removed study variables, and adjusting connections among nodes of the causal graph to illustrate influences of each study variable on the identified VOI.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein identifying the values of the at least one variable of interest (VOI) from the subject of the benchmark target variable which differ by at least the first threshold amount comprises matching the at least one VOI from the subject with the other values of the same VOI from the other subjects having similar study variables and performing a statistical analysis to identify the at least one VOI which differ by at least the first threshold amount.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein a first study variable is identified as the candidate explanation when the first study variable has a statistically significant effect on the VOI.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD Examples of the subject matter disclosed herein relate to automatic imaging protocol parameter adjustment based on radiation analytics. BACKGROUND In some radiation dose management systems, a user may explore how factors impacting a radiation dose received by a patient compare between protocols, devices, operators, and so on. However, if the user wants to compare only similar studies (e.g., studies captured using the same or similar study variables), the user has to manually sort through data based on chosen stratifications of the studies (e.g., by BMI range, by age range). Additionally, in conventional dose management solutions, a user may manually search for parameters which could explain differences in received radiation dose among studies. Attempts to adjust a radiation dose received by a patient may include adjusting one or more parameters which may influence the radiation dose, and repeating the scan. SUMMARY The current disclosure at least partially addresses one or more of the above identified issues by a medical system which may be used for radiation dose management, the medical system comprising a client device having a graphical user interface (GUI) and a display device, the client device operably coupled to a network, and an analytics tool configured with instructions stored on a memory and executable by a processor to receive a first user input via the client device, identify values of at least one variable of interest (VOI) from a subject of a benchmark target variable which differ by at least a first threshold amount from other values of the same VOI from other subjects of the benchmark target variable within a benchmarking context, generate and output for display on the display device a causal graph illustrating influences of different study variables on an identified VOI value, and automatically update the causal graph and display thereof based on a second user input to adjust at least one study variable. A method for the analytics tool may include comparing a VOI value from a first subject of a benchmark target variable with values of the same VOI from other subjects of the same benchmark target variable within a benchmarking context, identifying a VOI value which differs from a comparable VOI value by at least a first threshold, generating at least one candidate explanation for the difference in VOI values, generating a causal graph illustrating at least one candidate explanation for the difference in VOI values, and automatically updating the causal graph to incorporate adjustments to nodes of the causal graph to simulate a radiation dose delivery. The current disclosure further at least partially addresses one or more of the above identified issues using a method, comprising receiving a first user input, including selection of at least one variable of interest (VOI), a benchmark target variable, and a benchmarking context, for the at least one VOI, comparing values of the VOI for a first subject of the benchmark target variable with values of the same VOI from other subjects of the benchmark target variable within the benchmarking context to identify VOI values which differ by at least a first threshold amount from other VOI values of the same VOI, for the VOI values identified as differing by at least the first threshold amount, generating and outputting for display an output including a subject identifier and at least one candidate explanation for the identified VOI value, receiving a second user input selecting a subject from the output by selecting the respective subject identifier, comparing study variables used to generate the identified VOI value to average values of respective study variables of comparable VOI values, and generating and outputting for display a causal graph indicating at least one study variable of the study variables used to generate the identified VOI which differs by at least a second threshold amount, receiving a third user input including an adjustment to at least one study variable of the causal graph, wherein adjustment includes adding and/or removing at least one study variable node, and/or adjusting a value of the at least one study variable node, updating the causal graph based on adjustments included in the third user input, and outputting the updated causal graph for display on a display device. It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Various aspects of this disclosure may be better understood upon reading the following detailed description and upon ref