Evaluation of dry silver hard copies in digital radiography

Diagnostic images produced by digital technologies are viewed on video terminals. Hard copies are subsequently made on film for use by radiologists and referring physicians. An alternative is to make prints on paper using "dry silver" technology. These prints are made by a camera that uses silver-coated paper. The paper is developed as it exits the camera and passes over a heating element. Thus dry silver paper is processed "dry," whereas standard film or print paper is processed in a chemical bath. The prints are viewed by reflected rather than transmitted light. We compared the diagnostic quality of the dry silver prints with that of conventional multiformat, transmitted-light images. Radiologists were asked to make diagnoses from both types of images. The results showed that the diagnoses made from the prints were identical to those made from the films. Furthermore, when the images were labeled with the diagnosis, there was no difference between the two formats in the information conveyed to the referring physician. We conclude that dry silver, reflection prints can provide an inexpensive, convenient method of making visual information available on patients' charts.