Detection of pneumothorax: comparison of digital and conventional chest imaging

Department of Radiology, University of Arizona and University Medical Center, Tucson 85724.

To investigate radiologists' performance at interpreting digital radiographic images, we compared the detectability of pneumothoraces on computed radiographic chest images with 0.2-mm pixel size (2.5 Ip/mm) with their detectability on matched conventional screen-film images (5 Ip/mm). Eight radiologists reviewed 50 computed and 50 screen-film chest radiographs from 25 patients with pneumothoraces and 25 patients with other (or no) abnormalities. Four of the readers who best detected pneumothoraces on screen-film examinations performed worse when interpreting computed radiographic studies; the other four readers detected pneumothoraces similarly with both techniques. No relationship was found between the size of a pneumothorax and its likelihood of detection by either technique. These results raise concerns about implementing computed radiography for comprehensive chest imaging.
CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. V. Kaczmarek, B. J. Conway, R. O. Slayton, and O. H. Suleiman Results of a Nationwide Survey of Chest Radiography: Comparison with Results of a Previous Study Radiology, June 1, 2000; 215(3): 891 - 896. [Abstract] [Full Text]