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Digital chest imaging using a selenium detector. The impact of hard copy size on observer performance: a computed
H P van Heesewijk1, Y van der Graff, J C de Valois
1Department of Diagnostic Radiology, St. Antonius Hospital, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Investigative Radiology
|June 1, 1997
Summary
Digital chest radiography using selenium detectors shows that minified images (56% of life size) offer comparable diagnostic performance to life-size images for detecting pulmonary, mediastinal, and pleural abnormalities.
Area of Science:
- Radiology
- Medical Imaging
- Diagnostic Imaging
Background:
- Digital radiography is increasingly used for chest imaging.
- Selenium detectors offer advantages in digital radiography.
- Image size reduction is explored to optimize display and workflow.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of size reduction on the diagnostic performance of digital chest images acquired with a selenium detector.
- To compare radiologist detection performance between life-size and minified digital chest images.
Main Methods:
- Sixty-five patients underwent digital chest radiography without an antiscatter grid using a selenium detector.
- Life-size (35 x 43 cm) and minified (56% of life size) posteroanterior images were analyzed.
- Three radiologists assessed the detection of pulmonary, mediastinal, and pleural pathology, with computed tomography as the reference standard.
- Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to compare diagnostic value.
Main Results:
- Areas under the ROC curves for pulmonary opacities were 0.78 for both life-size and minified images.
- Performance for interstitial disease was similar (0.74 vs. 0.75).
- Detection of mediastinal disease showed slightly better performance with minified images (0.70 vs. 0.72).
- Performance for pleural abnormalities was comparable (0.72 vs. 0.67).
Conclusions:
- No statistically significant difference was found in radiologist performance between life-size and minified digital selenium chest radiography.
- Size reduction to 56% of life size does not compromise diagnostic accuracy for common chest pathologies.
- Minified digital chest images are a viable option for clinical assessment.