Abstract:
When making a diagnosis by synthetically taking into account the information obtained by preparing a plurality of samples using different staining methods or the like and sequentially observing the samples, a diagnostician must remember information about the plurality of samples. 
     The present invention includes image storage means for storing a reference image obtained by photographing a predetermined stained sample of and a comparison image obtained by photographing another stained sample of substantially identical biological tissues, partial image creation means for detecting a structure of the biological tissue from the reference image, cutting out from the comparison image a partial image that contains the structure detected, and storing into partial image storage means the partial image in association with the structure and the comparison image, image output means for outputting a result image that includes the reference image and the partial image, and the partial image storage means.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a diagnosis assisting system, a diagnosis assisting method, and a program thereof in pathological diagnosis. 
       BACKGROUND ART 
       [0002]    Pathological diagnoses using virtual slide images generated by scanning pathological samples through the use of virtual slide scanners are widespread. At the time of a pathological diagnosis, it sometimes becomes necessary to display a plurality of virtual slide images in an interlocked movement or display them in a superimposed manner on a viewer of a terminal. 
         [0003]    As related technologies for displaying virtual slide images on viewers, there exists the following. 
       CITATION LIST 
     Patent Literature 
       [0004]    [PTL 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-244738 
         [0005]    [PTL 2] Published Japanese Translation of PCT International Application Publication No. 2010-540906 
         [0006]    [PTL 3] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-002341 
         [0007]    [PTL 4] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-117991 
         [0008]    PTL 1 describes that the whole image of an image and partial images thereof are displayed side by side in the same screen. The technology of this Literature, concretely, displays a whole image obtained by photographing a chest portion from the front and partial images in which marginal portions of asbestos shadows are made clear by enlarging the whole image, side by side in the same screen. 
         [0009]    PTL 2 describes that a tissue specimen or an image is stained with a plurality of stains, for example, hematoxylin and the like. 
         [0010]    PTL 3 describes that a region in which an extraction object structure appears is extracted from a virtual slide image of an object sample. The technology of this Literature, concretely, extracts a region in which an extraction object structure appears is extracted from a virtual slide image by using supervised training data recorded as feature information of the extraction object structure. 
         [0011]    The cited Literature 4 describes that feature regions of a thumbnail image of an image obtained from a microscope can be discerned at a glance. According to the technology of this Literature, a pathologist can selectively skim only regions that affect a diagnosis while performing enlargement or reduction of their sizes, or the like. 
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     Technical Problem 
       [0012]    As for pathological diagnosis, it sometimes happens that a plurality of samples are prepared using serial sections of the same block (that is obtained by embedding in paraffin a tissue collected for diagnosis) by different staining methods and the like, and that information obtained after sequentially observing those samples is synthetically taken into account to make a diagnosis. In that case, there occurs a problem that during the period until making a diagnosis, a diagnostician has to remember information about a plurality of samples; thus, the burden on the diagnostician is great and the reviewing of samples frequently occurs. 
         [0013]    However, none of the technologies describes in the foregoing Literatures can solve this problem. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a diagnosis assisting system and diagnosis assisting method and program that solve the foregoing problem. 
       Solution to Problem 
       [0014]    In order to achieve the object as in the above, the biological tissue display apparatus of the present invention includes: image storage means for storing a reference image obtained by photographing a prefixed stained sample and a comparison image obtained by photographing another stained sample, which are of substantially identical biological tissues; partial image creation means for detecting a structure of the biological tissue from the reference image, cutting out from the comparison image a partial image including the structure detected, and storing into partial image storage means the partial image in association with the structure and the comparison image; image output means for outputting the reference image and a result image that includes the partial image; and the partial image storage means. 
         [0015]    Furthermore, the present invention provides a biological tissue image display method that includes; storing a reference image obtained by photographing a prefixed stained sample and a comparison image obtained by photographing another stained sample, which are of substantially identical biological tissues; detecting a structure of the biological tissue from the reference image, cutting out a partial image including the structure detected from the comparison image, storing the partial image in association with the structure and the comparison image; and outputting the reference image and a result image that includes the partial image. 
         [0016]    Furthermore, the present invention provides a biological tissue image display program that causes a computer to execute: an image storage step of storing a reference image obtained by photographing a prefixed stained sample and a comparison image obtained by photographing another stained sample, which are of substantially identical biological tissues; a partial image creation step of detecting a structure of the biological tissue from the reference image, cutting out from the comparison image a partial image including the structure detected, and storing into partial image storage means the partial image in association with the structure and the comparison image; and an image output step of outputting the reference image and a result image that includes the partial image. 
       Advantageous Effects of Invention 
       [0017]    The biological tissue display apparatus  100  of the present invention is able to lessen the burden on a diagnostician in a diagnosis using a plurality of different stained images. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0018]      FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a biological tissue image display apparatus  100 . 
           [0019]      FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating information stored in an image storage unit  10 . 
           [0020]      FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a partial image storage unit  30 . 
           [0021]      FIG. 4A  is a diagram (part 1) illustrating an operation procedure of a partial image creation unit  20 . 
           [0022]      FIG. 4B  is a diagram (part 2) illustrating the operation procedure of the partial image creation unit  20 . 
           [0023]      FIG. 5  is a diagram illustrating a working area that the partial image creation unit  20  creates. 
           [0024]      FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating an operation procedure of an image output unit  40 . 
           [0025]      FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen of the biological tissue display apparatus  100  according to a first exemplary embodiment. 
           [0026]      FIG. 8  is a diagram illustrating an operation procedure of a partial image creation unit  20  according to a second exemplary embodiment. 
           [0027]      FIG. 9  is a diagram illustrating an operation procedure of an image output unit  40  according to a third exemplary embodiment. 
           [0028]      FIG. 10  is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen of a biological tissue display apparatus  100  according to the third exemplary embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     First Exemplary Embodiment 
       [0029]    Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of a biological tissue display apparatus  100  according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the configuration elements mentioned with the following exemplary embodiments are merely illustrative, and it is not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention only to the configuration elements. 
         [0030]      FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the biological tissue display apparatus  100  according to the present exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The biological tissue display apparatus  100  according to the present exemplary embodiment includes an image storage unit  10 , a partial image creation unit  20 , a partial image storage unit  30 , and an image output unit  40 . Furthermore, units with which the biological tissue display apparatus  100  of each of the exemplary embodiments are composed are implemented by hardware such as logic circuits. Furthermore, the units may be formed by a control unit of a computer, a memory device, a program loaded in the memory device, a storage unit that stores the program, such as a hard disk, and may be realized by various combinations of hardware and software. Unless otherwise stated, the realizing methods and apparatuses for the units are not limited. Incidentally, the image storage unit  10  and the partial image storage unit  30  may be a storage apparatus such as a disk. Furthermore, a user terminal  200  is connected to the biological tissue display apparatus  100 . 
         [0031]    The image storage unit  10  stores reference images obtained by photographing prefixed stained samples of biological tissues and comparison images obtained by photographing other stained samples thereof. 
         [0032]    A reference image refers to an image with which a user recognizes a structure that the user desires to observe and by which the user specifies the structure to the biological tissue display apparatus  100 , and refers to the image that is obtained by applying general staining or special staining to a biological tissue and photographing the biological tissue. The general staining is a staining method for generally recognizing various configuration elements that constitute biological tissues. Furthermore, the special staining is a staining method for selectively staining only a specific tissue component in a biological tissue. 
         [0033]    The general staining and the special staining are, for example, hematoxylin eosin (H&amp;E) staining, PAS (Periodic Acid Schiff) staining, PAM (Periodic Acid Methenamine) staining, Azan staining, EVG (Elastica-van Gieson) staining, Masson&#39;s trichrome staining, resorcin-fuchsin staining, orcein staining, silver staining, PTAH (phosphorus tungstic acid hematoxylin) staining, alcian blue staining, mucicarmine staining, and toluidine blue staining. 
         [0034]    A comparison image is an image obtained by immunohistochemically staining and photographing a biological tissue. As for the immunohistochemical staining, there are, for example, a fluorescent antibody staining method and an enzyme antibody staining method. 
         [0035]    The partial image creation unit  20  detects a structure of a biological tissue from a reference image acquired from the image storage unit  10 , cuts out a partial image that includes the detected structure from a comparison image, and stores into the partial image storage unit  30  the partial image in association with the structure and the comparison image. 
         [0036]    The image output unit  40  acquires from the partial image storage unit  30  the partial image  24  and the reference image relating to the partial image  24 , and outputs a result image that include those images to the user terminal  200 . 
         [0037]      FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating information stored in the image storage unit  10 . The image storage unit  10  stores an image ID  11  (hereinafter, ID is an abbreviation of Identifier) that is identification information of an image and an image  12 , which are in association with each other. The image ID  11  is, for example, PAS, which indicates a name of staining, in the case of a reference image, and IgG, IgA, or the like, which indicates a name of staining, in the case of a comparison image. Alternatively, the image ID  11  may be a file name, an extension, or the like regarding the image  12 . Furthermore, as for the image  12 , image data itself may be stored, or information that identifies the image data storage location, such as a file name or an URL (Uniform Resource Locator). 
         [0038]      FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating information that the partial image storage unit  30  stores. A structure ID  22  indicates identification information of a structure in a tissue. The structure is a portion that is used as an index for diagnosis and that exists in a tissue. The structure is a glomerulus, epidermal cells, a basement membrane, a dermal papilla, or the like. The comparison image ID  23  is identification information of a comparison image. In the present example, the comparison image ID  23  is an antibody name. 
         [0039]    The partial image  24  is an image cut out from a comparison image in such a preset size as to include a structure. The partial image creation unit  20 , for example, calculates the center of gravity of the structure and cuts out a partial image  24  so that the structure is at the center of the image. The feature information  25  is information that represents features, such as a shape or a state, of a structure detected from a reference image or a comparison image. The feature information  25  is the size, degree of circularity, staining intensity, staining pattern, or the like of the structure. 
         [0040]    As  FIG. 3  indicates, the partial image storage unit  30  stores a matrix formed by rows for structure IDs  22  and columns for comparison image IDs  23 . The matrix stores, in a cell identified by a structure and a comparison image, a partial image  24  and feature information  25  acquired from the comparison image for the structure. 
         [0041]      FIG. 4A  and  FIG. 4B  are diagrams illustrating an operation procedure of the partial image creation unit  20  according to the present exemplary embodiment. The partial image creation unit  20 , when activated by the user terminal  200 , determines which of the images  12  is a reference image on the basis of the image IDs  11  stored in the image storage unit  10  (S 101 ). The partial image creation unit  20 , for example, acquires the image ID  11  of the reference image from the user terminal  200 . The partial image creation unit  20  may determine the image  12  of an image ID  11  given beforehand as a reference image. The partial image creation unit  20 , after acquiring the image  12  that is related with the image ID  11  of the reference image from the image storage unit  10 , displays the reference image on the user terminal  200  (S 102 ). 
         [0042]    The partial image creation unit  20  extracts a biological tissue in the acquired reference image and acquires tissue coordinate information  21  of the biological tissue (S 103 ). Note that the partial image creation unit  20  may carry out automatic extraction of a biological tissue by using an existing technology such as a technology described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-96602. A user may designate a region of a biological tissue to the partial image creation unit  20  by using a mouse or the like of the user terminal  200 . 
         [0043]    Subsequently, the partial image creation unit  20  recognizes a plurality of pieces of structure coordinate information  26  concerning structures inside the biological tissue designated by the user (information concerning relative position in the biological tissue) and assigns a structure ID  22  (identification information about a structure) to each of the structures (S 104 ). 
         [0044]    Note that the partial image creation unit  20  detects a brightness difference and a color difference between a structure and other portions by using a known image processing technology and automatically recognizes the structures. The partial image creation unit  20  may use the technology of PTL 3. Alternatively, the user may designate a region of a structure to the partial image creation unit  20  by using a mouse or the like of the user terminal  200 . Furthermore, the partial image creation unit  20  may automatically adopt a number as a structure ID  22 , or the user may input a structure ID  22  from the user terminal  200 . 
         [0045]    After that, the partial image creation unit  20  stores the tissue coordinate information  21  and the structure coordinate information  26  and the structure ID  22  acquired in S 103  and S 104  into a working area in a memory (not illustrated) of the biological tissue display apparatus  100 .  FIG. 5  illustrates information stored in the working area. As illustrated, the structure IDs  22  and the structure coordinate information  26  are stored, which are related with each other, in the working area of the partial image creation unit  20  (S 105 ). At this time, the partial image creation unit  20  stores the structure ID  22  in the partial image storage unit  30  as well. 
         [0046]    Subsequently, the partial image creation unit  20  repeats S 106  to S 111  for each of the comparison images. The partial image creation unit  20  reads from the image storage unit  10  the image  12  of the comparison image from the image storage unit  10  and makes a copy of the image ID  11  as a comparison image ID  23  in the partial image storage unit  30  (S 106 ). The partial image creation unit  20  automatically extracts a biological tissue in the comparison image and acquires tissue coordinate information  21  of the comparison image (S 107 ). The automatic extraction of a biological tissue is substantially the same as in S 103 . 
         [0047]    Subsequently, the partial image creation unit  20  repeats S 108  to S 111  for each of the structures stored in the working area. First, the partial image creation unit  20  derives absolute coordinate information of the structure in the comparison image from the tissue coordinate information  21  of the comparison image acquired in S 107  and the structure coordinate information  26  stored in S 105  (S 108 ). 
         [0048]    Furthermore, the partial image creation unit  20  cuts out a partial image  24  of a preset size so that the partial image  24  includes a position that the absolute coordinate of the structure indicate. Note that the preset size may be, for example, calculated from the screen size of the user terminal  200 , the number of comparison images, and the like by the partial image creation unit  20 , and may be given to the partial image creation unit  20  beforehand. Furthermore, the partial image creation unit  20 , for example, finds the center of gravity of the structure and cuts out a partial image  24  such that the center of gravity is at the center of the partial image  24 . Furthermore, the partial image creation unit  20  may perform correction of the brightness, contrast, color, and the like of the partial image  24  on the basis of a command of a user input from the user terminal  200  (S 109 ). 
         [0049]    The partial image creation unit  20  derives feature information  25  on the structure from the partial image  24  (S 110 ). The feature information  25  is information representing the shape or state of the structure such as a detected edge, texture, or fluorescence intensity, the size, degree of circularity, or crowded degree (density) of the structure, the staining intensity, or the straining pattern. The partial image creation unit  20  derives the feature information  25  by using a known technology. For example, the partial image creation unit  20  derives a crowded degree (density) of the structure by obtaining color information of the structure and other portions by a color discriminant analysis and calculating a volume ratio therebetween. 
         [0050]    Subsequently, the partial image creation unit  20  stores the partial image  24  acquired in S 108  and S 109  and the related feature information  25  in association with the structure and the comparison images into the partial image storage unit  30  (S 111 ). According to above-described manner, the partial image storage unit  30  stores information as shown in  FIG. 3 . Incidentally, the partial image creation unit  20  may calculate feature information  25  from the reference image as well. 
         [0051]      FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating an operation procedure of an image output unit  40  according to the present exemplary embodiment. The image output unit  40  first displays a reference image in a screen of the user terminal  200  (S 201 ). Next, the image output unit  40  creates a matrix area for partial images  24  in the memory, and sequentially stores comparison image IDs  23  acquired from the partial image storage unit  30  in the highest-order row, and sequentially stores structure IDs  22  in the leftmost column (S 202 ). 
         [0052]    Subsequently, the partial image output unit  40  repeats S 203  to S 204  for each of the comparison image IDs  23 . Furthermore, the partial image output unit  40  acquires from the partial image storage unit  30  a partial image  24  and feature information  25  related to the structure ID  22  and the comparison image ID  23  (S 203 ). The partial image output unit  40  stores the partial image  24  and the feature information  25  acquired in S 203  into a cell in the matrix area identified by the structure ID  22  and the comparison image ID  23  (S 204 ). 
         [0053]    Finally, the partial image output unit  40  displays the data of the matrix area below the reference image in the screen of the user terminal  200  (S 205 ). 
         [0054]      FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating an example of a result screen that the image output unit  40  according to the present exemplary embodiment outputs. In an upper portion of the result screen, a reference image and positions of detected structures are shown. In a lower portion there exists a matrix area identified by the structure IDs  22  and comparison image IDs  23 , and in each cell there is displayed the related partial image  24  and at least a part of feature information  25 . 
         [0055]    The image output unit  40  may perform processing, such as enlargement, reduction, or move, on the reference image and the partial images  24  of a result screen in the screen, in response to an input apparatus such as a mouse. Furthermore, the image output unit  40  may likewise perform an image correction regarding the brightness of an image and the like. 
         [0056]    For example, “++”, “M”, and the like, shown in  FIG. 7 , represent the staining intensity, staining pattern and the like of each of the structures, in the feature information  25 . For example, “++” indicates that the fluorescence intensity of the structure is great, and “M” indicates the pattern of antibody deposition areas in the structure. 
         [0057]    When the user gives a command to change the feature information  25  by a pull-down menu or a pop-up screen in a separate window during observation of a result screen, the image output unit  40  may, in response to the command, change the feature information  25  stored in the partial image storage unit  30 . 
         [0058]    Furthermore, when the user depresses an “INPUT COMMENT” button present in a right upper portion of the result screen during observation of the result screen, the image output unit  40  may, in response to that, acquire a comment from a keyboard or the like and add the comment to the feature information  25  stored in the partial image storage unit  30 . When the user depresses an “EXPORT” button, the image output unit  40  may, in response to that, store the result screen under observation into an external storage apparatus, such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory inserted into the user terminal  200 . 
         [0059]    Furthermore, when the user depresses a “Report” button, the image output unit  40  may, in response to that, create a report that includes the reference image, and a partial image  24  of a structure under observation and the feature information  25 , and output the report to the user terminal  200 . 
         [0060]    The image output unit  40  may acquire and stores a history of enlargement, reduction and move of observation screens and of created reports into a disk apparatus or the like. In this case, when the user depresses a “CHECK HISTORY OF CHANGES” button, the image output unit  40  may, in response to that, output the history in the result screen. 
         [0061]    The biological tissue display apparatus  100  according to the present exemplary embodiment is able to lessen the burden on an observer of a biological tissue. The reason is that the partial image creation unit  20  is able to detect structures of biological tissues from a reference image, to create partial images  24  that include the detected structures, and to display the reference image, the partial images  24 , and the feature information  25  of the partial images  24  side by side. 
       Second Exemplary Embodiment 
       [0062]    Subsequently, an operation procedure of a partial image creation unit  20  of a biological tissue display apparatus  100  according to the present exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to  FIG. 8 . 
         [0063]    First, the partial image creation unit  20  performs substantially the same processing as in S 101  to S 111  of the first exemplary embodiment (S 301 ). Subsequently, the partial image creation unit  20  repeats  5302  to S 303  for each of the structure IDs  22 . 
         [0064]    The partial image creation unit  20  calculates a priority of the structure (S 302 ). The priority is a value that indicates the observation order of the structures. The partial image creation unit  20  calculates the priority, for example, by a weighted sum or the like using some pieces of the feature information  25  of the structure and related weighting values. The weighting values are preset for the individual features. As the presence or absence of a feature strongly affects estimation regarding malignancy of a biological tissue and the feature often appear in the comparison image from which the piece of feature information  25  is derived, the greater weighting value is set for the feature. 
         [0065]    The feature information  25  used herein is, for example, the size, degree of circularity, staining intensity, and density of a structure. The partial image creation unit  20  may use only the feature information  25  derived from a specific comparison image or may also use feature information  25  derived from a plurality of comparison images. Furthermore, the partial image creation unit  20  may calculate a priority by using the feature information derived from a reference image. 
         [0066]    Subsequently, the partial image creation unit  20  stores the priority calculated in S 302  and the structure ID  22  in association with each other in the partial image storage unit  30  (S 303 ). 
         [0067]    The image output unit  40  of the present exemplary embodiment, when creating a matrix area for partial images  24  in a memory, sequentially stores comparison images IDs  23  in the highest-order row and sequentially stores structure IDs  22  in the order of priority in the leftmost column. Then, the image output unit  40  acquires from the partial image storage unit  30  partial image  24  and feature information  25  related to the structure ID  22  and the comparison image ID  23 . The image output unit  40  stores the partial image  24  and the feature information  25  acquired into a cell, which is identified by the structure ID  22  and the comparison image ID  23 , of the matrix area. Finally, the image output unit  40  displays data of the matrix area below the reference image in the screen of a user terminal. 
         [0068]    The biological tissue display apparatus  100  according to the present exemplary embodiment is able to lessen the burden on an observer of a biological tissue. The reason is that the partial image creation unit  20  calculates a priority of each structure, on the basis of the feature information  25  about the structure, and displays the structures in the reference image displayed in a result screen and related partial images  24  in the order of priority. The observer can observe structures starting with a structure with high priority (important for the diagnosis). 
       Third Exemplary Embodiment 
       [0069]    An operation procedure of a biological tissue display apparatus  100  according to the present exemplary embodiment will be described. 
         [0070]    Incidentally, the operation procedure of the partial image creation unit  20  is substantially the same as in the first exemplary embodiment. 
         [0071]      FIG. 9  is a diagram illustrating an operation procedure of an image output unit  40  according to the present exemplary embodiment. First, the image output unit  40  outputs a reference image to the user terminal  200  (S 401 ). Next, the image output unit  40  identifies a selected structure on the basis of the position at which the user has clicked in the reference screen, and the tissue coordinate information  21  and the structure coordinate information  26  stored in the working area (S 402 ). Furthermore, the image output unit  40  acquires the comparison image IDs  23  of the comparison images, and the partial images  24  and the feature information  25  that are related with the identified structure, and displays the acquired images and information side by side below the reference image in the screen of the user terminal  200  (S 403 ). 
         [0072]      FIG. 10  is a diagram illustrating an example of a result screen that the image output unit  40  according to the present exemplary embodiment outputs. In an upper portion of the result screen, there are displayed a reference image and structures. Furthermore, a lower portion of the result screen is formed by a matrix area including a plurality of cells. In each of the cells, a partial image  24  that is associated with a comparison image ID  23  and feature information  25  are simultaneously displayed. Although the present diagram illustrates a matrix area formed by pluralities of rows and columns, the number of rows or columns constituting the matrix is not limited to a plural number but may be at least one. 
         [0073]    Various functions of the image output unit  40 , such as an “INPUT COMMENT” and an “EXPORT”, are substantially the same as in the first exemplary embodiment, and therefore descriptions thereof are omitted herein. 
         [0074]    The biological tissue display apparatus  100  according to the present exemplary embodiment is able to lessen the burden on an observer of a biological tissue. The reason is that the image output unit  40 , when recognizing the position in a screen designated by the observer, identifies the selected structure on the basis of the position, the tissue coordinate information  21 , and the structure coordinate information. Furthermore, the image output unit  40  acquires the comparison image IDs  23  of the comparison images, the partial images  24 , and the feature information  25  that is associated with the identified structure, and displays the images and information side by side below the reference image in the screen of the user terminal  200 . As a result, the observer can easily see the partial image  24  and the feature information of the designated structure. 
       Fourth Exemplary Embodiment 
       [0075]    A biological tissue display apparatus  100  according to the present exemplary embodiment includes an image storage unit  10 , a partial image creation unit  20 , a partial image storage unit  30 , and an image output unit  40 . The image storage unit  10  stores a reference image obtained by photographing a predetermined stained sample and comparison images obtained by photographing other stained samples, which are of substantially identical biological tissues. The partial image creation unit  20  detects structures of the biological tissue from the reference image, cuts out, from the comparison images, partial images  24  including the structures detected, and stores the partial images  24  into the partial image storage unit  30  in association with the structures and the comparison images. The image output unit  40  outputs a result image that includes the reference image and the partial images  24 . 
         [0076]    The biological tissue display apparatus  100  according to the present exemplary embodiment is able to lessen the burden on an observer in a diagnosis that uses a plurality of different stained images. For example, in a fluorescent antibody method test in a kidney biopsy, an observer needs to observe features of all the glomeruli present in the tissue in each of a plurality of different stained images (the presence or absence of a glomerulus that is positive, the positive pattern, and the fluorescence intensity). When there are many glomeruli that are observation objects, this observation is an operation that causes a great burden on an observer. In the biological tissue display apparatus  100  according to the present exemplary embodiment, the partial image creation unit  20  detects glomeruli or the like from a reference image, generates partial images  24  that include detected glomeruli or the like, and displays the reference image and the partial images  24  side by side, so that the burden on the observer lessens. 
         [0077]    While the invention of the present application has been described above with reference to the exemplary embodiments (and examples), the invention of the present application is not limited to the foregoing exemplary embodiments (and examples). The configurations and details of the invention of the present application can be changed in various manners that a person skilled in the art can understand within the scope of the invention of the present application. 
         [0078]    This application claims the priority based on Japanese Patent application No. 2013-035788 filed on Feb. 26, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety. 
       REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 
       [0000]    
       
           10  Image storage unit 
           11  Image ID 
           12  Image 
           20  Partial image creation unit 
           21  Tissue coordinate information 
           22  Structure ID 
           23  Comparison image ID 
           24  Partial image 
           25  Feature information 
           30  Partial image storage unit 
           40  Image output unit 
           100  Biological tissue display apparatus 
           200  User terminal