title: Assessment of diagnostic technologies.
abstract: A general protocol for rigorous evaluation of diagnostic systems in medicine was applied successfully in a comparative study of two radiologic techniques. Accuracies of computed tomography and radionuclide scanning in detecting, localizing, and diagnosing brain lesions were assessed with a sample of patients in whom tumor had been suspected. The principal means of analysis was the "relative operating characteristic," which is unique in providing a measure of accuracy that is largely independent of decision biases. Computed tomography was found to be substantially more accurate than radionuclide scanning.
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D006801:Humans; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed