Computed VS. Film-Screen Magnification Radiography of Fingers in Hyperparathyroidism

Abstract

One hundred randomly selected patients with suspected or known hyperparathyroidism were examined in a prospective study of the 2nd and 3rd fingers with film-screen and digital luminescence radiographs using magnification technique. The digital images were displayed on a work-station and printed as hard-copies. Two radiologists evaluated the film-screen images regarding subperiosteal and intracortical resorption and their results were defined as “gold standard” regarding the absence or presence of these changes. Four radiologists evaluated these changes in the 3 image forms and an ROC analysis was performed. Comparing the areas under the ROC curves no significant difference was found between the film-screen images and the 2 digital display forms. These results suggest that currently available digital systems provide adequate diagnostic accuracy for evaluation of subtle skeletal changes.

Radiation Dose Reduction in Computed Skeletal Radiography

“…The importance of optimizing the digital images, instead of using industrystandard CR processing, has recently been stressed (7). Previous studies comparing film-screen and CR radiographs indicate that there is no significant difference in diagnostic accuracy for diseases in the hand-wrist area (4,5), and a study (17) on several pathologic changes in the extremities raised questions of diagnostic accuracy only in fracture detection. Perhaps digital properties compensate for the lower spatial resolution of the CR images, apparent in the paired hand images (Fig.…”

“…(2)(3)(4)(5) 4 (1-5)4 (1-5)3 (1-4) 3 (1-4) 2 (1-4)I (1-3) Cortical bone, enhanced 3 (2-5) 3 (2-5) 3 (2-4) 2 (2-4) 2 (1-3) I (1-3) Trabecular bone 3 (2-5) 4 (1-5) 4 (1-5) 3 (1-5) 2 (1-4) 2 (1-3) I (1-2) Trabecular bone, enhanced 3 (2-5) 3 (2-4) 3 (2-4) 2 (1-3) 2 (1-3) 1 (1-4) Joint space 4 (2-5) 4 (3-5) 4 (2-5) 3.5 (2-5) 3 (2-5) 3 (2-4) 2 (1-3) Joint space, enhanced 4 (2-5) 3 (2-5) 3 (2-4) 3 (2-4) 3 (2-4) 2 (1-4) Soft tissue 3 (1-4) 3 (1-4) 3 (1-4) 3 (1-4) 3 (1-4) 2 (1-4) I (1-3) Soft tissue,enhanced 4 (2-4) 4 (2-4) 3 (2-5) 3 (2-4) 2 (1-4) I (1-4)…”

Spatial Resolution Requirements in Digital Radiography of Scaphoid Fractures

“…The contrast resolution (bits/pixel) is often not the same on the monitor as on the images printed by a laser printer. However, some studies in musculoskeletal radiology, where images were viewed both as hard copies and on workstations, have shown a similar diagnostic accuracy of both viewing forms (8,9).…”

“…Apart from system resolution, the viewing condi tions may be very important when using work stations (7), and suboptimal conditions may ad versely affect diagnostic accuracy in clinical set tings. Furthermore, according to several studies (8,9,11,20,22), the workstation evaluation is more time-consuming than plain film viewing. The view ing conditions in our study were good, without time limits, and did probably not have any adverse ef fects on the observers.…”