Series: Practical Evaluation of Clinical Image Quality (1):Image Quality Verification of Digital Radiography

The way of clinical image viewing has changed dramatically by deploying picture archiving and communication system (PACS) in clinical practices. This change has been caused by the digitization of clinical diagnostic images and based on digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) 3.0 standard published in 1992. In the PACS environment, medical displays such as liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors are applying for soft-copy reading. These changes in the way of the clinical image viewing caused by the PACS resulted in development of a new concept of the clinical image quality. In digital radiography, there are various factors that affect the image quality in the PACS environment. In addition, image quality can practically be classified into 3 classes; Raw data image class, Processed image class, and Display image class. Therefore, we must apply appropriate procedure to evaluate the image quality of digital radiography.