BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for facilitating computer-assisted search of image slices for indications of a finding.

2. Description of the Related Art

Advances in medical imaging techniques involving computed tomography (CT), Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), mammography, or other technologies have enabled physicians, clinicians, or other service providers to help patients detect various medical conditions (e.g., tumors or other masses) in their early stages, as well as perform close monitoring of such medical conditions as they develop inside the patients' bodies. Moreover, improvements in processing power, memory and storage capacity, or other resources in computer systems has enabled physicians or other users to more easily capture or obtain medical images (e.g., medical image slices or other images), videos, or other items related to patients, and more quickly search and identify the images, videos, or other items of relevance to such users.

As an example, if a physician observes a particular finding (e.g., a tumor or other mass) in one or more image slices captured during a recent examination of a patient, the physician may utilize a computer system in communication with a database of image slices from prior examinations of the patient to search the database for image slices with one or more indications of the particular finding to determine whether the particular finding is a new development or whether the particular finding was simply undetected during prior examinations. However, given the size of the images and other related items generated by typical medical imaging techniques (e.g., due to the high resolution of such imaging) and the large number of images generated for a single patient, searching a database of images associated with a patient to automatically identify the patient's images that might show evidence of a newly discovered finding can be extremely time-consuming and inefficient (e.g., especially if conducted on a set of image slices that include image slices from multiple prior examinations). These and other drawbacks exist.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, one aspect of the disclosure relates to a system for facilitating computer-assisted search of image slices for indications of a finding. The system includes one or more processors and/or other components. The one or more processors are configured by machine-readable instructions to: determine an image slice that includes a detected finding related to an individual, the determined image slice representing a cross section of at least a portion of the individual during an examination of the individual; reduce a search space to a subset of image slices including image slices that respectively represent a cross section corresponding to the cross section represented by the determined image slice, wherein reducing the search space includes filtering a set of image slices based on the cross section represented by the determined image slice, the image slices set including image slices that respectively represent a cross section of at least a portion of the individual during one or more other examinations of the individual; obtain first image slice information related to the determined image slice; obtain, based on the search space reduction, second image slice information related to one or more image slices of the image slices subset; and determine, based on the first image slice information and the second image slice information, whether one or more indications of the detected finding exist in the one or more image slices of the image slices subset.

Another aspect of the disclosure relates to a method for facilitating computer-assisted search of image slices for indications of a finding. The method includes: determining an image slice that includes a detected finding related to an individual, the determined image slice representing a cross section of at least a portion of the individual during an examination of the individual; reducing a search space to a subset of image slices including image slices that respectively represent a cross section corresponding to the cross section represented by the determined image slice, wherein reducing the search space includes filtering a set of image slices based on the cross section represented by the determined image slice, the image slices set including image slices that respectively represent a cross section of at least a portion of the individual during one or more other examinations of the individual; obtaining first image slice information related to the determined image slice; obtaining, based on the search space reduction, second image slice information related to one or more image slices of the image slices subset; and determining, based on the first image slice information and the second image slice information, whether one or more indications of the detected finding exist in the one or more image slices of the image slices subset.

Another aspect of the disclosure relates to a system for facilitating computer-assisted search of image slices for indications of a finding. The system includes: means for determining an image slice that includes a detected finding related to an individual, the determined image slice representing a cross section of at least a portion of the individual during an examination of the individual; means for reducing a search space to a subset of image slices including image slices that respectively represent a cross section corresponding to the cross section represented by the determined image slice, wherein reducing the search space includes filtering a set of image slices based on the cross section represented by the determined image slice, the image slices set including image slices that respectively represent a cross section of at least a portion of the individual during one or more other examinations of the individual; means for obtaining first image slice information related to the determined image slice; means for obtaining, based on the search space reduction, second image slice information related to one or more image slices of the image slices subset; and means for determining, based on the first image slice information and the second image slice information, whether one or more indications of the detected finding exist in the one or more image slices of the image slices subset.

These and other features and characteristics of the present invention, as well as the methods of operation and functions of the related elements of structure and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the various figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.

