Hybrid optical-digital radiography-based system for lung disease detection

A hybrid optical-digital system for automated measurement and disease classification of chest radiographs has been constructed. Initial results from the use of this system for classification of opacity textural patterns associated with a specific diffuse lung disease (coal workers pneumoconiosis) are presented. This system consists of three subsystems which include a digital image scanner for lung field detection, a computercontrolled X - Y transport for film positioning, and a Fraunhofer diffraction pattern sampling unit for opacity detection and measurement. A minicomputer is used to integrate these subsystems as well as render a film quality and disease classification through the use of discriminant functions and probability estimates.