Digital angiography: matched filtration versus mask-mode subtraction

Matched filtration was compared to mask-mode subtraction in patients undergoing routine intravenous digital subtraction angiography. Images were analyzed for noise and edge sharpness, and the two techniques were compared subjectively by three radiologists. The quantitative results indicated that matched filtration increased the signal-to-noise ratio by an average of 2.23 but did not significantly increase vessel blurring. Subjectively, the observers favored matched filtration over mask-mode subtraction for overall image quality in 26 out of 30 cases (p less than 0.005) in terms of both sharpness and freedom from motion artifacts.