Methods, systems, services and circuits for generating rapid preliminary reports with bone mineral density measurements and/or osteoporosis risk assessments

摘要

Methods, systems, services (Internet), computer programs and circuits provide rapid bone mineral density (BMD) measurements and/or osteoporosis information using an automated image analysis circuit that evaluates a hand X-ray of a patient from an X-ray device to generate a reliable bone density evaluation within about 15 minutes, typically within about 5 minutes with receipt of a hand X-ray, and more typically substantially instantaneous and under 1 minute. The automated image analysis circuit can reside on a remote preliminary review server.

主权项

1. A rapid analysis and preliminary reporting system for evaluating bone mineral density (BMD) for assessing a patient's risk of osteoporosis, comprising:
a plurality of different radiology sites, each having at least one radiology workstation in communication with a display and at least one X-ray device in communication with the at least one radiology workstation; a preliminary BMD report circuit in communication with the different radiology sites via the Internet, the preliminary BMD report circuit comprising an automated rapid image analysis module configured to receive and analyze hand X-rays taken from respective X-ray devices using an image analysis model that is applied to at least one middle metacarpal finger in a respective hand X-ray undergoing analysis, wherein the preliminary BMD report circuit is configured to carry out the analysis, generate a preliminary BMD report comprising an associated BMD measurement with an osteoporosis risk report and transmit the preliminary BMD report to at least one user substantially instantaneously upon receipt of a respective hand X-ray from a radiology site and/or an associated radiology workstation or X-ray device; and at least one remote expert site with at least one expert workstation in communication with the preliminary BMD report circuit and/or radiology workstations, wherein the preliminary BMD report circuit is also configured to provide the preliminary BMD reports with associated hand X-rays to one or more of the at least one expert workstation to allow a BMD image analysis expert to review respective hand X-rays and associated preliminary BMD reports of different patients from different radiology sites and decide whether to validate or invalidate data reported in respective preliminary BMD reports, wherein the preliminary BMD report circuit or the at least one remote expert workstation is configured to transmit respective final BMD reports to radiology sites and/or defined users after the BMD image analysis expert validates or invalidates the related preliminary BMD report, wherein the preliminary BMD report circuit or the at least one remote expert workstation is configured to generate and transmit each of the following for each preliminary BMD report, depending on an expert's review thereof at the at least one expert workstation: (i) the final BMD report of osteoporosis risk with the BMD measurement from the preliminary BMD report; or (ii) the final BMD report indicating a corresponding preliminary BMD report with the BMD measurement is invalid, wherein the preliminary BMD reports are transmitted to the at least one user associated with a corresponding radiology site and/or patient within about 5 minutes from receipt of a respective hand X-ray from respective radiology workstations or X-ray devices at the different radiology sites, and wherein the preliminary BMD report circuit is configured to electronically determine whether there are residual errors and/or irregular image features to calculate a risk threshold for establishing whether the BMD measurement of the respective preliminary BMD reports is reliable, and wherein the preliminary report circuit is configured to (i) transmit the preliminary BMD reports with a corresponding BMD measurement to patients and/or users associated with a radiology site only if the corresponding BMD measurement is determined to be reliable and (ii) provide preliminary BMD reports with the corresponding BMD measurement to one or more of the at least one expert workstation irrespective of whether the BMD measurement is considered reliable.