Medical images, such as conventional radiographs (“X-rays”), computed tomography (“CT”) scans, magnetic resonance images (“MRIs”), sonograms, mamograms, nuclear medicine studies and the like, are a vital tool in diagnosis, treatment planning and other aspects of healthcare delivery. One of the more recent advances in medical imaging was the ability to acquire digital images or to scan and digitize images which were originally acquired on radiographic or other non-digital film. Another advance enabled physicians and other healthcare workers to distribute those digital images over a network. One technology which has enhanced the transfer of radiologic images and other medical information between computers is DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine), which is the industry standard for transferring such images and information. Digitization often allows radiologists and other physicians and healthcare workers to more easily manipulate a given image for easier viewing. Distribution over a network allows those healthcare workers to view images from remote locations, such as a another hospital, an office or even a home.
One system and method for uploading medical images to a server or secure server for distribution over a network is provided by, for example, U.S. application Ser. No. 09/219,956, filed Dec. 23, 1998, which is hereby incorporated by reference. Using that system, currently marketed under the trade name Remote Image™, a hospital, urgent care facility or other healthcare provider may upload images to a secure server and distribute the images over a network. While Remote Image™ has improved the way medical images are viewed and evaluated, some problems with remote viewing still exist.
For example, physicians in many different specialties, especially surgeons, often implant devices into patients to repair the effects of trauma, disease, deterioration and the like. Since each patient has a unique anatomy, device manufacturers offer various styles, shapes and sizes of devices for any given surgical procedure. As device technology has advanced, manufacturers have greatly increased the variety and number of different devices available. This variety has often caused hospitals and other surgical facilities to keep very large inventories of devices on hand to ensure that the optimal device for each patient will be available. To address the problem of unwieldy inventories, device manufacturers and surgeons typically began utilizing pre-operative planning, wherein manufacturers provide “templates” of the available devices. Templates, in one embodiment, are images of devices which can be placed over patient images (such as X-rays) in order to determine the appropriate type, size and placement of a device prior to surgery. A template is typically an outline of a device, printed on clear film.
One issue that should be considered when using such templates is magnification. An X-ray of a bone, for example, often becomes magnified as a result of the distance between the bone and the X-ray cassette (which holds the film). This magnification is generally between 5% and 25%, depending upon the technique used and the anatomy of the patient. Thus, to help surgeons develop more accurate pre-operative plans, device manufacturers typically offer templates in multiple magnifications, such as 105%, 110%, 115% and 120%, to compensate for the X-ray magnification.
For proper pre-operative planning, a surgeon typically obtains multiple images of the affected anatomical area, such as a broken bone, from multiple views, such as frontal, side and oblique views. The surgeon may then compare multiple templates by placing each one in succession over the images of the broken bone. This pre-operative planning process helps surgeons determine the optimal type, size and placement of a device before operating. The process also reduces device inventory that a hospital or other surgical facility often keeps on hand. However, a surgical facility often acquires templates with several magnifications for each size and style of device from each device manufacturer. Although managing and storing an inventory of templates is preferable to managing and storing an inventory of devices, a large inventory of templates can become unwieldy as well. The orthopedic device industry alone, for example, includes hundreds of different manufacturers with several thousand different device systems currently on the market. The total number of parts included in all these orthopedic device systems thus easily numbers in the hundreds of thousands. These include hip joints, knee joints, shoulder joints, ankle joints, elbow joints, finger and toe joints, spinal implants, rods, plates, screws, pins, and countless other parts.
Thus, a need exists for systems and methods to enable surgeons and other healthcare providers to more efficiently view and evaluate images to conduct pre-operative planning A need also exists for systems and methods to enable healthcare providers to accomplish pre-operative planning from locations remote from a particular hospital. A need also exists for systems and methods to reduce the inventories of medical devices and medical device templates that hospitals and other surgical facilities typically keep on hand for operative procedures and pre-operative planning.