Method and system to manage digital medical images

1. An interactive user interface (UI) for managing digital medical images captured via a radiographic source, comprising:

a first display panel for displaying at least two digital medical images and a point on each of the at least two digital medical images located in associated stitching regions for stitching the at least two digital medical images together, each stitching region being proximate to a separation between the at least two digital medical images in the first display panel,

a second display panel for displaying a composite image comprising the stitched at least two digital medical images, wherein the first and second display panels are displayed together on a same display screen;

means for a user to select a stitching region and to modify the location of points within a selected stitching region; and

means for applying an algorithm to regenerate the composite image in response to the modified location of the points.

2. The user interface of claim 1 , wherein:

the point on each digital medical image is a single point.

3. The user interface of claim 1 , wherein:

the second display panel displays the composite image comprising at least two of the digital medical images displayed on the first display panel.

4. The user interface of claim 3 , wherein:

the second display panel displays the composite image comprising all of the digital medical images.

5. The user interface of claim 1 , further comprising:

means for a user to modify display size, location, and intensity of the at least two digital medical images and the composite image.

6. The user interface of claim 1 , wherein:

the at least two digital medical images comprise radiographic images.

7. The user interface of claim 1 , wherein the user interface is configured to allow:

a user to create and modify the composite image from the at least two digital medical images via alignment of the points between the at least two digital medical images to be stitched;

a user to modify a previously created composite image via realignment of the points; or

both.

8. The user interface of claim 7 , wherein:

the user interface is configured to allow the composite image to be modified, regenerated, and viewed within one application window.

9. The user interface of claim 1 , further comprising:

indicators in the second display panel to indicate at least a portion of the composite image that corresponds to the stitching regions of the digital medical images.

10. The user interface of claim 1 , wherein:

the first display panel and the second display panel are shown together on the same display screen.

11. The user interface of claim 1 , wherein the means for applying an algorithm to regenerate the composite image comprises:

automatically regenerating of the composite image in response to the modified location of the points.

12. A method for managing at least two digital medical images captured via a radiographic source, comprising:

selecting one of the at least two digital medical images displayed in a first display panel or a composite medical image comprising the at least two digital medical images in a second display panel;

selecting a seam of the composite medical image to display the at least two digital medical images in the first display panel and to display the composite image in the second display panel, the seam corresponding to a stitching region which is proximate to a separation between the at least two digital medical images;

allowing modification of display size, location, and intensity of the digital medical images in the first display panel and the composite image in the second display panel;

locating a point within each stitching region associated with the at least two digital medical images, the stitching region between each adjacent digital medical images having common image attributes;

regenerating the composite image based on the location of the corresponding points.

13. The method of claim 12 , comprising:

determining the acceptability of the regenerated composite image.

14. The method of claim 12 , comprising:

creating and storing an updated composite image based on the regenerated composite image.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein:

the locating a point comprises locating a single point.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein:

the selecting a stitching region, allowing modification, locating a point, and regenerating the composite image, occurs within a single user interface window, thereby eliminating the need to open or close additional user interface windows.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein:

the second display panel displays the composite image comprising the at least two digital medical images displayed on the first display panel.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein:

the second display panel displays the composite image comprising all of the digital medical images.

19. The Method of claim 12 , wherein:

the selecting one of the at least two digital medical images or a composite medical image, comprises selecting radiographic medical images.

20. A non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable program code configured for implementing the method of claim 12 .

21. A computer system for managing a plurality of radiographic images, the system comprising:

a display;

an input device;

a processing circuit; and

a storage device, readable by the processing circuit, storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for implementing the method of claim 12 .

22. The method of 12 , wherein regenerating the composite image comprises:

automatically regenerating the composite image based on the location of the corresponding points.