Medical image management system

Abstract

A method of managing medical information is disclosed. Medical image data is received, at a real-time transfer engine, at the same time that the patient is being scanned by a medical imaging device. The medical image data is then converted to a browser-compatible image format at a converter engine connected to receive the medical image data from the real-time transfer engine. The converter engine comprises a decoder engine for extracting image pixel data from the medical image data and an encoding engine for converting the image pixel data to a browser-compatible format connected to receive the image pixel data. The image pixel data may be converted to a browser compatible format without loss of diagnostic data.

1 . A method of managing medical information, comprising:
 receiving a plurality of medical image scans corresponding to a plurality of medical imaging procedures performed on a plurality of patients, each image scan comprising one or more digital medical images, the medical imaging procedures using medical imagers associated with a plurality of medical imager manufacturers to create the image scans, the medical imaging procedures being performed by one or more healthcare provider organizations;   posting the image scans in a browser-displayable format on at least one Internet server computer among a plurality of server computers;   for each posted image scan, recording a globally-unique identifier corresponding to the medical imaging procedure performed on one of the plurality of patients;   providing to a user a plurality of pointers corresponding to the globally-unique identifiers, the plurality of pointers corresponding to a plurality of medical imaging procedures performed on one of the plurality of patients at different times during the patient's lifetime;   in response to user selection of any of the pointers, providing to the user an Internet web page and the digital medical images corresponding to the selected medical imaging procedure and to the selected pointer for display in the Internet web page in an Internet web browser.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the posted image scans are stored in a patient-centric hierarchy among the plurality of server computers wherein the patient is at a higher hierarchical level than that of the healthcare provider organizations. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the patient-centric hierarchy enables a user to view side-by-side the digital medical images from a plurality of healthcare provider organizations performed on the same patient. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the patient-centric hierarchy enables a user to view side-by-side digital medical images from a plurality of imaging modalities performed on the same patient. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of medical imaging procedures correspond to different medical imaging modalities. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the different medical imaging modalities is chosen from the group consisting of magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, ultrasound, echocardiography, x-ray imaging, single photon computed tomography, positron emission computed tomography, and electrocardiography. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of medical imaging procedures originate from a plurality of healthcare provider organizations. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the pointers corresponding to a patient are communicated to a user to enable the user to view the digital medical images of the patient taken anywhere in the world throughout the patient's lifetime. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the pointers corresponding to a medical imaging procedure are a user to enable the user to view the digital medical images corresponding to the medical imaging procedure taken anywhere in the world of the patient throughout the patient's lifetime. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user can navigate among a plurality of web pages to view a plurality of medical imaging procedures performed on the same patient at different times during the patient's lifetime. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing access privileges to the user to prevent unauthorized viewing of a patient's digital medical images. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the access privileges comprise password protection of a web-compatible database comprising information associated with the patient's posted digital medical images. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user is a primary physician of the patient. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user is a referring physician tasked with reviewing an interpretation of the digital medical images prepared by a primary physician. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user is a patient seeking a second opinion from another physician.