阅读说明：本技术 “通知我”：个体扫描协议状态和mri检查进展的自主实时远程通知 ("notify me": autonomous real-time remote notification of individual scan protocol status and MRI examination progress ) 是由 H·穆贾黑德 于 2020-02-28 设计创作，主要内容包括：为了增强用户体验和改善患者工作流程,数据收集和患者成像协议被监测,并且当满足可定制的条件时,例如扫描协议完成并重建成功时,实时通知被自动、远程和实时地触发、生成并提供给最终用户(例如放射科医师、技术人员、服务人员、医院管理人员等)。通知从扫描器主计算机或分析系统发送并通过电子邮件、即时消息等接收,并可被拉入独立的移动应用程序。提供了进展指示器,其便于将预测的扫描完成时间通知主治医师,以便医师可以立即准备好(例如,到达阅览室、扫描室、登录移动查看设备等)查看扫描结果。用户可以选择查看任何患者、患者组、医学设备或任何选定医院的中止、完成或正在进行的扫描。(To enhance user experience and improve patient workflow, data collection and patient imaging protocols are monitored, and real-time notifications are triggered, generated and provided to end users (e.g., radiologists, technicians, service personnel, hospital administrators, etc.) automatically, remotely, and in real-time when customizable conditions are met, such as a scan protocol is completed and reconstruction is successful. Notifications are sent from the scanner host computer or analysis system and received via email, instant message, etc., and may be pulled into a separate mobile application. A progress indicator is provided that facilitates informing an attending physician of the predicted scan completion time so that the physician may be immediately ready (e.g., to reach a viewing room, a scanning room, log on to a mobile viewing device, etc.) to view the scan results. The user may choose to view aborted, completed or ongoing scans of any patient, patient group, medical device, or any selected hospital.)

1. A medical imaging system (10) that facilitates autonomously providing notification of availability of medical images reconstructed in real-time, comprising:

a medical imaging device (32) that acquires image data of a patient;

a host computer (12) coupled to the medical imaging device and configured to control one or more imaging protocols executing on the medical imaging device;

a reconstruction processor (31) which reconstructs the acquired image data into one or more images; and

one or more processors configured to:

monitoring progress of an imaging protocol (33) that generates at least one image;

generating a notification message (16) upon completion of the imaging protocol, the notification message indicating identification of the imaging protocol and a location at which the at least one image can be reviewed or stored; and is

Sending the notification message to a communication device (34) of at least one authorized recipient immediately after completion of the imaging protocol.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a customization module (24) configured to receive user input regarding identification of at least one communication device of an authorized recipient to which a notification is sent during setup, and to populate a list of authorized recipients to which the notification is sent.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the user input comprises the list of authorized recipients, the list comprising one or more physicians responsible for the patient, and wherein a patient ID number for a patient undergoing the imaging protocol is read by a processing unit of a notify me module on the host computer.

4. The system according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: predicting when the imaging protocol will be completed based on a known start time and a known duration of the imaging protocol, and generating and sending one or more real-time progress status notification messages to the communication device of the at least one authorized recipient.

5. The system as recited in claim 4, further comprising a customization component (24) configured to receive selectable user input regarding at least one of:

a desired time to receive the one or more progress status notifications prior to completion of an imaging protocol;

an expected frequency of sending progress status notification messages; and

the expected period of time for which the progress status notification message is not sent.

6. The system of any of claims 1-5, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to initiate and periodically update a progress indicator on the communication device of the at least one authorized recipient, wherein the progress indicator indicates an expected time to complete the at least one imaging protocol.

7. The system according to any one of claims 1-6, further comprising a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) component that analyzes acquired scan data and provides real-time diagnostic information to assist clinicians in their diagnosis and decision making.

8. The system of any of claims 1-7, further comprising an analysis module that analyzes reconstructed image data and provides real-time indications to the one or more processors as to whether the reconstructed image data includes an anomaly.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the notification message includes, in real-time, an indication that the imaging protocol is complete and an indication of whether the at least one image includes an anomaly.

10. The system of any one of claims 1-9, wherein the medical imaging device is one of: a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) device, a Computed Tomography (CT) scanner, a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner, a Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) scanner, and an Ultrasound (UL) imaging device.

11. A communication device (34) for autonomously providing real-time notification of imaging protocol status information, comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

receiving a message from a host computer (12) associated with a medical imaging device (32), the message including a start time and an expected duration for each of one or more imaging protocols (33) monitored by the host computer;

for each of the one or more imaging protocols, initiating a progress indicator (48) configured to indicate an amount of time remaining for each monitored imaging protocol; and

a graphical user interface (47) on which the progress indicator and countdown clock are presented to a user of the communication device;

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receiving a notification that one or more monitored imaging protocols have completed or are about to complete within a predicted amount of time indicated by the countdown clock, and presenting instructions to the user via the graphical user interface to proceed to review reconstructed images available at a particular location.

12. The communication device of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receiving one or more update messages that update predicted end times of the one or more imaging protocols, and updating the progress indicator according to the updated end times.

13. The communication device according to any one of claims 11 or 12, further comprising a customization component configured to receive, for each patient undergoing an imaging protocol, selectable user input regarding at least one of:

receiving, from the host computer, an expected time before completion of an imaging protocol of one or more progress status notifications;

receiving a desired work day and time of the notification;

a desired scanner or a set of dedicated scanners in a particular hospital department;

a desired specific patient or generic patient type for the received notification;

receiving an expected frequency of progress status notification messages; and

a desired period of time during which no progress status notification message is received.

14. The communication device of claim 13, wherein the customization module is further configured to receive during setup an identifying user input regarding at least one communication device of authorized recipients to which notifications and progress status messages can be sent, and the customization module is configured to generate a list of one or more authorized recipients.

15. The communication device of claim 14, wherein the user input comprises a patient ID number for a patient undergoing an imaging protocol, wherein the list of authorized recipients comprises one or more physicians responsible for the patient, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to send the list of authorized recipients to the host computer for distribution of messages and notifications.

16. The communication device of any one of claims 11-15, wherein the notification is received from the host computer before the clinician has an opportunity to review the data after a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) component has analyzed the acquired scan data and provided diagnostic information in real-time.

17. The communication device of any of claims 11-16, wherein the notification is received from the host computer after a post-processing component has analyzed the reconstructed image data and provided an indication to the host computer as to whether the reconstructed image data includes an anomaly.

18. The communication device of claim 17, wherein the notification includes an indication of whether the at least one image includes an anomaly.

19. The communication device of any one of claims 11-18, wherein the medical imaging protocol being monitored is one of: a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) protocol, a Computed Tomography (CT) protocol, a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) protocol, a Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) protocol, and an Ultrasound (UL) imaging protocol.

20. The communication device of any of claims 11-19, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive protocol adjustment instructions from the user via a graphical user interface and transmit the instructions to a workstation for access by a technician.

21. The communication device of any one of claims 11-20, wherein the customization component is further configured to receive selectable user input regarding at least one of:

an expected scan status indication, an indication that a given scan is in progress, has completed, or is aborted; and

a selected patient, group of patients, scanning device, or medical facility for which the scan status indicator is desired.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for autonomously providing notification of availability of medical images for real-time reconstruction, the instructions comprising:

monitoring progress of an imaging protocol (33) running on a medical imaging device (32) and generating at least one image;

generating and transmitting one or more progress status messages indicative of imaging protocol progress and predicted completion time;

generating a notification message (16) upon completion of the imaging protocol, the notification message indicating identification of the imaging protocol and a location at which the at least one image can be reviewed;

sending the notification message to a communication device (34) of at least one authorized recipient immediately after completion of the imaging protocol.

Technical Field

The following generally relates to medical imaging systems and the like. However, the described innovations may be applicable in other imaging systems, other medical systems, and the like.

Background

In a conditional medical imaging system, a patient scan is performed and Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) may be applied to self-identify suspicious features. The results are transmitted to a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) and may then be downloaded to a radiology workstation where the radiologist views the images, makes clinical findings, and prepares radiology reports that are uploaded to the PACS and/or sent to one or more clinicians.

In an emergency room environment, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computed Tomography (CT), or other medical imaging is commonly used to evaluate and diagnose patients, with each second being important. For example, in the united states alone, one person suffers from a stroke every 40 seconds, while stroke patients may lose as many as 200 million brain cells per minute. If the patient receives an emergency MRI, the physician treating the patient must be accurately informed when the MRI scan is complete and the image has been reconstructed for diagnosing the patient.

However, existing medical imaging scanners are not able to actively manage the diagnostic imaging process. To expedite such diagnostic imaging procedures, an on-board radiologist may operate on-site at a radiology laboratory to review diagnostic images in a scanner room generated in a console room of an MRI scanner control computer. In a busy emergency room environment, a radiologist on duty may walk between imaging rooms while imaging different trauma patients or other patients. However, under conventional approaches, the process is inefficient because the imaging technician may not call the radiologist into the room to evaluate the image before the image becomes available. Thus, there is a delay in the radiologist evaluating the images, making clinical findings, and so forth. When the medical device automatically sends the acquired images to the PACS, delays still exist simply because there is no effective way to notify the radiologist to begin examining the images for diagnosis. It is natural to assume that the responsible radiologist is always sitting at the viewing station in their emergency room, reloading the PACS database and waiting for new patient images to arrive. In some hospitals, the technician acquiring the medical image calls the on-call or responsible radiologist once the patient image examination is completed, but this approach is inefficient because 1) it relies heavily on the intermediary (medical image technician or operator), 2) it is assumed that the medical image technologist knows who the call is being placed to (e.g., the currently on-duty radiologist), and 3) it wastes critical time, especially in emergency situations (e.g., stroke loses 200 million neurons per minute), and if not diagnosed in time, may increase the risk of permanent brain damage, disability, or even death.

Conventional systems do not provide a way for radiologists (or end-users) to timely know how their prescribed MR scan protocols (e.g., FLAIR or DWI sequences) are going and the completion status of patients currently undergoing MRI examinations (e.g., brain examinations with contrast enhancement, which is a collection of one or more scan protocols), e.g., whether the MR technician has completed a critical MR protocol for the patient, whether images have been loaded into the PACS system, whether the technician has mistakenly ignored the MR protocol or otherwise deviated from a fixed set of conventional protocols that must be acquired, or whether the technician has changed parameters for a particular protocol that they should not change (because of the radiologist's particular preferences), etc.

Currently, the fastest way to know whether an individual protocol performed successfully is to check the scanner (or imaging device) database, which may cause the scanner workflow to be interrupted. Therefore, there is a need for a background process that can check for protocol completion, which is extremely important, and autonomously send real-time information to a remote user without a man-in-the-middle. Given that a particular necessary protocol is executed and the images associated with that protocol are sent to the PACS database, in order to access the data quickly, the radiologist must also wait for the data to arrive and then refresh the PACS and search for the particular scanning protocol, which can waste a significant amount of the radiologist's time. This is especially true in emergency departments, stroke centers or intensive care units where every second is important and there may be multiple imaging devices or where a radiologist must cover more than one patient. Thus, the inability of the radiologist to know exactly when data is available for reading can have devastating consequences for the patient.

Certain improvements are disclosed below.

Disclosure of Invention

In one disclosed aspect, a medical imaging system that facilitates autonomously providing notification of availability of medical images reconstructed in real-time includes: a medical imaging device that acquires patient image data; a host computer coupled to the medical imaging device and configured to control one or more imaging protocols executing on the medical imaging device; and a reconstruction processor that reconstructs the acquired image data into one or more images. The system also includes one or more processors configured to: monitoring progress of an imaging protocol that generates at least one image; generating a notification message after completion of the imaging protocol, the notification message indicating identification of the imaging protocol and a location at which the at least one image can be viewed; and sending a notification message to the communication device of the at least one authorized recipient immediately upon completion of the imaging protocol.

In another disclosed aspect, a communication device for autonomously providing real-time notification of imaging protocol status information includes one or more processors configured to: receiving a message from a host computer associated with a medical imaging device, the message including a start time and an expected duration for each of one or more imaging protocols monitored by the host computer; for each of the one or more imaging protocols, initiating a progress indicator configured to indicate an amount of time remaining for each monitored imaging protocol; and a graphical user interface on which the progress indicator is presented to a user of the communication device. The one or more processors may be fully customizable by a user having a communication device to select to receive notification of completion of one or more monitoring imaging protocols, and to present instructions to the user via the graphical user interface to continue or prepare to view images on a mobile device at a precise time in the near future or to view reconstructed images generated by the imaging protocols at a specified location.

In another disclosed aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium has stored thereon instructions for autonomously providing real-time reconstructed medical image availability notification, the instructions comprising: monitoring progress of an imaging protocol running on a medical imaging device and generating at least one image; generating and transmitting one or more progress status messages indicative of imaging protocol progress and predicted completion time; generating a notification message after completion of the imaging protocol, the notification message indicating identification of the imaging protocol and a location at which the at least one image can be viewed; sending a notification message to a communication device of at least one authorized recipient immediately after completion of the imaging protocol.

One advantage resides in providing real-time scan completion notification to an attending radiologist.

Another advantage resides in the complete elimination of any time wasted by predicting the availability of future images to the attending radiologist.

Another advantage resides in improving workflow of a medical facility by identifying missing protocols, incomplete procedures, or inconsistent parameters used in protocols.

Another advantage resides in mitigating patient trauma by reducing medical image review delays.

Another advantage resides in providing the results of any analysis performed on the raw data (e.g., artificial intelligence algorithms to detect abnormalities) and declaring preliminary results to clinicians in real-time and autonomously to assist radiologists in diagnosis.

A given embodiment may provide none, one, two, more, or all of the foregoing advantages, and/or may provide other advantages that will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present disclosure.

Drawings

The invention may take form in various components and arrangements of components, and in various steps and arrangements of steps. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the invention.

Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a system that facilitates providing real-time notifications to authorized parties regarding medical imaging scan status, in accordance with one or more features described herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates a screen shot of an interface running on a host computer, wherein an email is sent when a condition (e.g., a protocol for completing each individual program) is satisfied.

Fig. 3 shows a screenshot from a user's email account on a desktop computer or the like.

Figure 4 shows a screenshot from an end-user communication device showing in real-time a notification that a hospital 3.0T scanner has sent.

Fig. 5 shows a screenshot of a mobile smart communications device (e.g., apple smartwatch in this example) from an end user showing a hospital name, a medical device type (i.e., MRI), a medical device ID (i.e., 3TA), a patient type (i.e., stroke), a patient ID, and information about completed scans (i.e., T1W), aborted scans (i.e., T2W), received real-time autonomous notifications of ongoing scans (i.e., DWI), a countdown clock to predict when the current scan is completed, when the entire examination is completed, and a timer to indicate elapsed time from the beginning of a condition requiring scan(s) (i.e., the beginning of a stroke in this example).

Detailed Description

The claimed innovation provides immediate information about the status of each individual scan protocol (i.e., immediately after a successful scan protocol is acquired and reconstructed) by sending an automatic notification message to a selected group of end-user recipients.

For example, in clinical MR, the time and connectivity of real-time MR scan progress is a critical part of the workflow. Notifying the end user (i.e., radiologist, chief researcher, etc.) through an email or mobile Instant Messaging (IM) application provides a real-time means of communication and facilitates workflow progression by allowing access to the latest examination progress status to better serve patients and reduce time waste. For consistency purposes, hospital and image center management personnel are interested in knowing whether a particular mandatory MR scan protocol was actually acquired and, if so, whether it was successful or not, as part of the exam cards (collection of individual scan protocols), thereby enabling them to discover whether the exam cards were modified or deviated from the original form for a given clinical trial. The described systems and methods may be configured such that even a change in imaging slice orientation for a particular scan protocol causes a notification to be sent to the responsible radiologist. Furthermore, service engineers may be interested in knowing when a long-term service periodic quality indicator test (PIQT) scan is completed (or interrupted) so that they can take the necessary additional steps without wasting any time.

The described systems and methods provide a "real-time" capability to analyze patient scan data and inform clinicians of the results before they have an opportunity to read the scan data and make a diagnosis themselves. For example, a stroke patient is being scanned at an MRI scanner with "notify me" availability. After the scan is complete, the artificial intelligence analysis software determines a positive bleed in the artery. A short message is provided to the radiologist, prompting for possible bleeding. The radiologist reads the image and checks for the possibility of bleeding that has been proposed by "notify me". If true, bleeding will not be missed by human error.

Autonomous "notify me" does not rely on technicians or other human intermediaries, and can send various customizable notifications in real-time to any mobile, fixed, or connected device with internet access, such as the following:

clinical data is available for real-time reading by a remote user (e.g., a radiologist) without wasting any time in an emergency situation

Declaring completion of a patient's particular imaging protocol or complete examination

Displaying progress bars completing a particular imaging protocol or examination

Confirming sending/receiving of a particular clinical image or data set to a PACS or other destination

The time at which a particular imaging protocol or set of critical protocols will complete in the future (i.e., the countdown clock) is predicted so that the user (e.g., radiologist) may plan to appear in the scanner or reading station in advance to read the images immediately.

Fig. 1 illustrates a system 10 that facilitates providing real-time notifications to authorized parties regarding medical imaging scan status, in accordance with one or more features described herein. System 10 may be referred to herein as a "notify me" system. In one embodiment, the system runs on a medical imaging scanner host computer 12 and includes a notify-me module 13, which notify-me module 13 includes a GUI 14 for customizing the type of notification 16 to send, and in particular embodiments provides notifications as to when a scan is complete, when it is uploaded to a PACS 18, when a CAD analysis 20 is complete, when an imaging technician changes imaging protocols, or when some other configurable or selectable event occurs. The notification message may also include a HIPAA compliant PHI (e.g., the patient's name) or the patient's initials and/or scanner number/local name. The GUI 14 also includes a customization module 24, the customization module 24 including selectable options that may be indicated by the physician, such as how often to send a notification update (e.g., every 5 minutes, every 10 minutes, every 30 seconds within 5 minutes after the scan is completed, etc.), time limits for notifications (e.g., only during physician shifts, not between specific times (e.g., 1 am to 6 am or some other predetermined time window, etc.), scanner-based selection of a name, location, or serial number (e.g., only sending notifications from a 3.0T scanner of a pediatric hospital), general patient type (e.g., only notifying when there is a stroke patient).

In one embodiment, the PACS 18 sends an indication to the host computer 16 to indicate a successful upload of the scanned image. Similarly, the CAD module 20 sends a notification to the host computer indicating that the computer-aided diagnosis is complete. In each case, the received indication triggers a notification for the radiologist generated and sent by the notify me module 13 running on the host computer 12.

The GUI is also used to maintain a set of approved notification recipients 26 and selectable options for approved recipient(s). Typically, the approved recipients will include the radiologist and possibly others on duty-off, such as the emergency room physician on duty-off. For each approved recipient, the system stores the appropriate contact information 28, such as an email address and cell phone number (e.g., for instant messaging and/or text).

The notify me module 13, running on the scanner computer, also includes a real-time event monitor/notify trigger component 30 and a reconstruction processor 31 that reconstructs raw scan data acquired by a medical imaging device 32 into one or more medical images. The real-time event monitor/notification trigger component 30 monitors the operation of the medical imaging device 32 (e.g., Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), single photon emission tomography (SPECT), Computed Tomography (CT), Ultrasound (UL), or any other suitable medical imaging device) to detect events, which are selected using the GUI, and sends notifications in real-time to approved recipients. This feature requires monitoring of the imaging protocol 33 performed on the imaging device 32, as well as the image reconstruction process (e.g., detecting when an image becomes available) and any CAD analysis. Advantageously, while some operations such as CAD analysis may be performed in the cloud or on a hospital server, the data is sent back to the scanner computer 12 so that the scanner computer is the central point for all relevant real-time image acquisition and processing information accumulation. In another embodiment, the feature allows the notification-me module 13 running on the scanner computer to immediately identify the event that triggered the notification, sent directly from the connected CAD system (e.g., if the analysis software is used to detect lesions, and the software resides on a separate server, the trigger for the notification may come directly from the server). Existing scanner computers are typically already connected to the internet (possibly through a firewall) so that a notify me module running on the scanner computer can send a notify email and/or Instant Message (IM) message to an approved recipient.

The authorized recipient receives the notification via the internet (or possibly via a wireless hospital network) at a mobile communication device 34 such as a cell phone or smart device (smart phone, smart watch, etc.) or the "internet of things" (IOT) or other mobile communication device (e.g., tablet, personal computer, etc.) worn or carried by the approved recipient. The notification may be a standard email or IM message, in which case the email or IM application may provide a notification user interface. Additionally or alternatively, a dedicated notification-me application 36 may be loaded onto the mobile communication device, in which case the notification may be sent via a proprietary protocol. Using a dedicated notify me app provides greater flexibility and patient health information and may implement additional functionality as described below.

In one embodiment, rather than providing notifications in real-time as events occur, a notify me module running on the scanner host computer may operate in the prediction mode 38. For example, the notify-me module may detect the beginning of the scan sequence, predict when the scan sequence ends (e.g., within 20 minutes) based on the known scan duration, and push a notification 39 to notify-me application 36. Upon notification of my app, a 20 minute timer is started so that the authorized recipient can know when he or she needs the scanner computer 12 in the viewing room or console room to view the results immediately when they are available. The system can also predict the precise time at which data is available so that the end user can view the results without any life cost delay. After the analysis software provides the data results, a notification may be sent immediately to the end user to assist the clinician in making a decision.

This feature reduces the time that the radiologist must stop between one or more consoles to check if the scan is complete, thereby freeing up time for the radiologist to check for the patient, and is generally more efficient. This is particularly useful in emergency MR, where radiologists prefer to walk into the scanning room rather than rely on PACS systems to remotely read time-sensitive imaging data.

Another function provided by the notify me app is an enhanced ability to approve recipients for real-time communication with imaging technicians. This is particularly valuable in situations where the notification relates to a change in scan parameters or protocol, such as when the patient moves during the scan and the scan must be restarted, or when the imaging technician determines that the scan requires additional time or additional procedures. Further, if the radiologist does not approve such a change, he or she can immediately send a message to the technician to undo the change. The physician may also use the notify me app 36 to send instructions to the imaging technician, such as instructions to repeat the scan, perform additional scans, and so forth.

Notify me module 13 to run on scanner computer 12 and monitor the scan in real time to monitor any image analysis performed manually, e.g. using an image viewing GUI) or through CAD, even if performed at a remote/cloud server. In one embodiment, a notify-me module 40, configured to perform any or all of the functions of notify-me module 13, may be running on a PACS 18 and configured to detect receipt of a scan check at the PACS. This feature may facilitate performing data integrity checks and true real-time notifications regarding when scan results become available at the PACS 18.

The system also includes one or more analysis modules 42 that analyze the reconstructed scan image to detect abnormalities. The notification message generated by the notify me module 33 may include an indication of whether the scan result is normal or abnormal. For example, if a physician requires an MRI of a patient's brain, the analysis module determines whether one or more lesions are present in the brain and sends an indication of a scan abnormality to the notify me module. The notify me module converts the exception indication to a message format (text, IM, email, etc.) and includes the exception indication in the notification message. This feature helps provide real-time exception notification to the physician. The analysis module 42 may reside on the main scanner computer 12 or may reside on a remote server or in the "cloud".

According to one embodiment, the attending physician may access the notification me app on the main scanner computer 12 or on their communication device to configure which notifications 16 the physician wishes to receive, the frequency with which the physician wishes to receive each notification, and so forth. For example, a physician (e.g., a radiologist, etc.) may choose to have a scan progress notification sent to his communication device (e.g., a smartphone, a smartwatch, a tablet, a laptop, etc.) at predetermined time intervals (e.g., every 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 30 seconds, etc.) for a given patient and/or a given scanning procedure. The notification message sent to the physician's communication device may include a real-time indication of the status of the scanning procedure (e.g., completed or ready for review, time remaining before completion, delayed, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, each scan completion may trigger a notification to one or more authorized recipients 26.

In one embodiment, the frequency of notifications increases as the completion of the scan approaches. For example, a notification plan for a 20 minute scan may include sending a progress notification every 5 minutes until the scan is completed within 3 minutes, then once every 30 seconds until the scan is completed within 1 minute, and then once every 5 seconds until the last minute the scan is completed. This feature helps to convey a sense of urgency to the physician to read the scan results immediately when available. In a related embodiment, a user (physician, etc.) may assign different tones to different scans or patients on a receiving communication device so that the user can distinguish between different scan results that are about to be available without looking at the communication device. In one example, a user may assign a higher pitched tone to a higher priority patient on a cell phone application.

The physician is also permitted to generate, via the notify me module, one or more lists 46 including patients, imaging devices, etc., which may be prioritized or ordered. For example, the physician may rank the patients by priority or severity of the injury.

In another embodiment, the notify me application on the physician's communication device includes a GUI 47, the GUI 47 including a progress status indicator 48, such as a countdown clock 49, timer, status bar, or the like, that indicates when the scan results are available for viewing. For example, the physician may be presented with a status bar indicating that the scan is 10%, 50%, 100%, or some other percentage complete. In another embodiment, the notify me app includes a countdown clock or status bar indicating when the scan results may be viewed, and the physician may monitor the countdown to view the scan results at the moment or minutes in advance of their being available in the correct viewing room.

Progress indicator 48 may also be customized by the physician through notification me module 13 on the host computer and/or through notification me app 36 on communication device 34. For example, the physician may select whether to depict the progress indicator as a countdown timer, clock, status bar, or the like. Further, the physician may choose to receive one or more notifications (e.g., t-minus 5 minutes, t-minus 30 seconds, etc.) about the pending completion of each imaging scan. The above-described features help reduce the amount of time from the end of the scanning procedure to the radiologist reviewing the scan results, which in turn improves patient recovery (e.g., by reducing brain cell death, etc. in the case of stroke patients), improves patient treatment, prevents injury associated with delays, and reduces irreversible damage caused by time-sensitive diseases such as stroke.

By informing the physician in advance of the predicted availability of the scan results, the physician's efficiency and the likelihood of patient recovery are improved. For example, a physician who is monitoring 10 patients and waiting for the scan results for each patient may be notified to appear in a given scanner or viewing room before or while the scan results for each patient are available. Further, the physician may use the notify me app on the physician communication device to determine a priority for patient scan result availability notification. For example, a physician may rate patients in order of their condition or disease, e.g., prioritize stroke patients' MRI scans over tennis elbow MRI scans so that in the event that the scans for both patients are available at the same time, the physician does not review less important scans to the detriment of more urgent patients.

Additional functionality provided by the notify-me architecture may include sending a notification to a reservation physician or radiologist or imaging facility manager regarding deviations from a reservation scan. For example, a technician may restart scanning or omit part of a scheduled scan, and such an event triggers a notification message. This function helps to detect "drift" in real time. Conventional methods typically involve a retrospective analysis of the scan flow, for example, over a year, to identify "drift" (deviation from the scan flow). Deviations from a particular set of parameters of a given scan protocol can be detected in real time. For example, if the MR technologist is informed that a particular scan protocol is running without any modification, but they accidentally modify the echo time, informing me that an alert can be sent to the administrator informing them of a potential deviation in the scan protocol (the current gold standard is to detect drift for a period of time after the fact). By providing real-time drift detection, facility management, service technicians and even physicians can access more timely information to facilitate modification of the scanning and workflow.

For example, while technicians have begun with standard imaging protocols, over time, the protocols stored in the host computer may change due to modifications made by various technicians. Notify me module 13 may be configured to notify a technician of protocol drift (e.g., a change to a standard protocol) by comparing a current imaging protocol to the standard or base protocol (e.g., a raw or standard version of the protocol). In one embodiment, the notify me module may generate and send a notification if a technician makes a particular modification to, for example, an MRI protocol. In another embodiment, a notification is generated and sent if the modification to the base scanning protocol exceeds a predetermined threshold (e.g., a 5% change, a 10% change, or some other predetermined amount). This feature may ensure that a notification is provided if successive adjustments to the protocol over time reach a point where the currently running protocol has drifted from the original (base) scan protocol by more than a predetermined threshold amount.

The communication device 34 provides real-time notification of imaging protocol status information and includes one or more processors (not shown) configured to receive messages from the host computer 12 associated with the medical imaging device, wherein the messages include a start time and an expected duration for each of the one or more imaging protocols monitored by the host computer. The one or more processors may be similar to the one or more processors 52 (described below) with respect to host computer 12. It should be understood that the communication device also includes a computer-readable medium or memory (not shown), such as may be employed in a communication device such as a smartphone, smart watch, internet of things device, etc.

For each of the one or more imaging protocols, the one or more processors initiate a progress indicator configured to indicate an amount of time remaining for each monitoring imaging protocol. The communication device further comprises a graphical user interface 47 on which progress indicators are presented to a user of the communication device. The one or more processors are further configured to receive a notification that the one or more monitored imaging protocols are complete and present instructions to a user through a graphical user interface to proceed to a specified location to view a reconstructed image generated by the imaging protocols. The communication device is further configured to receive one or more update messages that update predicted end times of one or more imaging protocols and update the progress indicator according to the updated end times. In one embodiment, the notify me application running on the communication device includes a customization component 51 similar to or the same as the customization component 24 described with respect to the host computer 12. In this regard, from the perspective of the user, notify-me application 36 may provide any or all of the functionality through the communication devices (e.g., customization, list generation, etc.) provided by notify-me module 13. For example, the end user may set a frequency of receiving alerts, select a scanner to receive alerts, select a particular patient (e.g., under HIPAA), select a general patient type (e.g., stroke only patients), a week of receiving notifications, a time of receiving notifications, and so forth.

The notify me app (and/or the processor running the application) is configured to receive selectable user input for each patient accepting an imaging protocol, at least one of: receiving a desired date or time of one or more progress status notifications from the host computer prior to completion of the imaging protocol; an expected frequency of transmission of progress status notification messages; and a desired period of time during which no progress status notification message is transmitted.

In another embodiment, the notification me application is further configured to receive an identity of at least one communication device with respect to an authorized recipient to whom the notification and progress status message may be sent, and the customization module is configured to generate a list of one or more authorized recipients. The user input may include a patient ID number for a patient undergoing an imaging protocol, wherein the list of authorized recipients includes one or more physicians responsible for the patient, wherein the notify me application is configured to transmit the list of authorized recipients to the host computer for distribution of the message and the notification.

In one embodiment, a notification is received from a host computer after a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) component analyzes acquired scan data and provides diagnostic information. In another embodiment, the notification is received from the host computer after the post-processing component has analyzed the reconstructed image data and provided an indication to the host computer as to whether the reconstructed image data includes an anomaly. The notification may also include an indication of whether the at least one image includes an anomaly.

In one embodiment, the notify me module 13 stores and executes a Perl script containing and invoking other Perl packages, and constructs a notification message (e.g., email, instant message, text, etc.) in real-time if certain conditions are met that are customizable, met (e.g., successfully completing a particular scan protocol acquisition, or providing the end user with full availability of all reconstructed images, etc.), and then establishes a connection (email, IM, text) and immediately sends the notification message. A Perl package is a single file and folder that can be copied to the main scanner host computer 12.

The host computer 16 also includes one or more processors 52 and one or more memories 54 (computer readable media). Processor 52 executes one or more computer-executable modules, and memory 54 stores instructions for performing the various functions, methods, etc. described herein. As used herein, "module" means a computer-executable algorithm, routine, application, program, etc., and/or a processor that executes the computer-executable algorithm, routine, application, program, etc.

The memory 54 may be a computer readable medium, such as a disk, hard drive, or the like, on which the control program is stored. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic storage medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, blu-ray disk, or any other optical medium, a RAM, a ROM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, variants thereof, other memory chips or cartridges (cartridges), or any other tangible medium from which processor 52 can read or operate. In this context, the described system may be implemented on or as one or more general purpose computers, special purpose computer(s), a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit elements, an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a hardwired electronic or logic circuit such as a discrete element circuit, a programmable logic device such as a PLD, PLA, FPGA, Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) or PAL, or the like.

In another embodiment, the notify-me module includes one or more special purpose processors 55 that perform the various actions, functions, tasks, etc. described herein. For example, the processor 55 may parse the system-generated logs in real-time in the background and take action (e.g., send notifications, predictions, etc.) to authorized users.

According to one example, the following Perl package may be used in the notifyme.

i. Sending an e-mailhttp://search.cpan.org/dist/Email-Send/lib/Email/ Send.pm)

Sending email message Gmail (Gmail)http://search.cpan.org/～lbrocard/Email- Send-Gmail-0.33/lib/Email/Send/Gmail.pm)

III, simple, creatorhttp：//search.cpan.org/～rjbs/Email- Simple-2.214/lib/Email/Simple/Creator.pm)

Other Perl packages used in NotifyMe.

In another embodiment, there is a separate Perl package that can be automatically retrieved from the CPAN website (http:// search. CPAN. org /) if there is any omission. Perl is installed on the run notification my scanner by default, but this functionality is advantageous if any Perl package needs to be added for notifyme.

2-4 below show examples of the described notification-me tool implemented on the host computer scanner computer 12 and remote notifications generated on the end user's desktop or mobile device.

FIG. 2 shows a screenshot 60 of an interface running on a host computer in which an email 62 is sent when conditions are met (e.g., each individual planning agreement is completed). In the illustrated example, three patient scan protocols are planned and successfully completed, but in practice five protocols are performed because two additional internal scans (coil survey and Sense reference) are acquired in the background. In this example, the user (e.g., radiologist) has preferred or selected to include an internal scan and receive all five email notifications. However, the notify-me system described herein allows a user to configure settings to receive all or less than all of the scan completion notifications.

Fig. 3 shows a screenshot 80 of an email account from an authorized user on a desktop computer or the like. In the illustrated example, the result notification email 82 is received from the hospital's 3.0T scanner via a message (e.g., email, IM, text, etc.) indicating the true scan number and protocol name. Both the internal scan and the planned protocol are displayed. The standalone mobile application strictly adheres to HIPAA privacy rules regarding any patient health information.

Fig. 4 shows a screenshot 100 of the communication device 34 from an end user showing in real time a notification 16 that a hospital 3.0T scanner has sent, in this example, the notification 16 appearing on the communication device as received notification 39 upon completion of an individual imaging protocol.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example of a notify-me interface 200, such as may be displayed on a user's communication device (e.g., a smart watch, a smart phone, etc.), according to one or more aspects described herein. The interface 200 displays a current date 202, a current time 204, a hospital name 206, a scanning device type 208 (MRI in the illustrated example), and a scanner device name or ID 210 (3 TA in the illustrated example). The interface additionally shows a patient type 212 (in the example shown, stroke patient) and patient ID information 214. Several scan status indicators are provided, including but not limited to a scan complete indicator 216 (T1W in the illustrated example), a scan abort indicator 218 (T2W in the illustrated example), and a scan in progress indicator 220 (DWI in the illustrated example). Also shown are a number of progress indicators, including a current scan countdown indicator 222 (DWI scan in the illustrated example), a countdown 224 to complete the entire examination (FIN in the illustrated example), and an elapsed time indicator 226 representing the elapsed time since the beginning of the condition requiring the scan(s) (stroke in the illustrated example). It should be understood that the described examples need not be limited to a particular arrangement of indicators and/or information on the interface display, and that more or less information, indicators, etc. may be presented via the interface 200 according to various embodiments.

The invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments. Modifications and alterations will occur to others upon reading and understanding the preceding detailed description. It is intended that the disclosure be construed as including all such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.