Medical imaging processing and care planning system

1. A medical radiation therapy and workflow system supporting review and update of radiotherapy treatment, comprising:

a task processor for providing task management data for initiating image comparison tasks prior to performing a session of radiotherapy;

an image comparator, coupled to said task processor, for, in response to said task management data,

comparing a first image of an anatomical portion of a particular patient used for planning radiotherapy for said particular patient, with a second image of said anatomical portion of said particular patient obtained on a subsequent date, by image alignment and comparison of image element representative data of aligned first and second images to determine a first image difference representative value and

determining whether said first image difference representative value exceeds a first predetermined threshold; and

an output processor, coupled to said image comparator, for initiating generation of an alert message indicating a need to review planned radiotherapy treatment for communication to a user in response to a determination said first image difference representative value exceeds a predetermined threshold.

2. A system according to claim 1 , wherein

said image difference representative value comprises an image difference representative remainder value.

3. A system according to claim 1 , wherein

said output processor inhibits administering radiotherapy in response to said determination.

4. A system according to claim 1 , wherein

an image element comprises at least one of, (a) an image pixel, (b) multiple pixels of an image and (c) a block of image pixels.

5. A system according to claim 4 , wherein

said pixels are not contiguous.

6. A system according to claim 4 , wherein

said image element representative data comprises at least one of, (a) image element luminance representative data values and (b) image element color representative data values.

7. A system according to claim 6 , wherein

said image element luminance representative data values represent Computed Tomography grayscale image data.

8. A system according to claim 6 , wherein

said image element luminance representative data values represent MR grayscale image data.

9. A system according to claim 6 , wherein

said image element luminance representative data values represent imaging modality device grayscale image data.

10. A system according to claim 1 , wherein

said image comparator perform a second determination by determining whether said first image difference representative value exceeds a further predetermined threshold and

said output processor initiates generation of an alert message indicating a need to check patient identity prior to radiotherapy treatment.

11. A system according to claim 10 , wherein

said first and further predetermined thresholds are the same.

12. A system according to claim 1 , wherein

said image comparator compares a third image of said anatomical portion of said particular patient with a fourth image of said anatomical portion of said particular patient obtained on different dates, by image alignment and comparison of image element representative data of aligned third and fourth images to determine a second image difference representative value and determines whether said second image difference representative value exceeds a second predetermined threshold and

said output processor initiates generation of an alert message indicating a need to check patient identity prior to radiotherapy treatment in response to a determination said second image difference representative value exceeds said second predetermined threshold.

13. A system according to claim 12 , wherein

at least one of said first and second images is the same as the third and fourth image.

14. A system according to claim 12 , wherein

said first and second predetermined thresholds are the same.

15. A medical radiation therapy and workflow system supporting review and update of radiotherapy treatment, comprising:

a task processor for providing task management data for initiating image comparison tasks prior to performing a session of radiotherapy;

an image comparator, coupled to said task processor, for, in response to said task management data,

comparing a first image of said anatomical portion of said particular patient with a second image of said anatomical portion of said particular patient obtained on different dates, by image alignment and comparison of image element representative data of aligned first and second images to determine an image difference representative value and

determining whether said image difference representative value exceeds a predetermined threshold and

an output processor, coupled to said image comparator, for initiating generation of an alert message indicating a need to check patient identity prior to radiotherapy treatment in response to a determination said image difference representative value exceeds said predetermined threshold.

16. A system according to claim 15 , wherein

said image comparator

compares a third image of said anatomical portion of a particular patient used for planning radiotherapy for said particular patient, with a fourth image of said anatomical portion of said particular patient obtained on a subsequent date, by image alignment and comparison of image element representative data of aligned third and fourth images to determine a second image difference representative value and

determines whether said second image difference representative value exceeds a second predetermined threshold; and

said output processor initiates generation of an alert message indicating a need to review planned radiotherapy treatment for communication to a user in response to a determination said second image difference representative value exceeds said second predetermined threshold.

17. A system according to claim 16 , wherein

said first and second predetermined thresholds are the same.