Simulated pulmonary nodules: detection with dual-energy digital versus conventional radiography.
Performance of a prototype dual-energy digital chest radiography unit in detecting calcified and noncalcified simulated pulmonary nodules was compared with that of a highly optimized, conventional system. Nodules ranging in size (0.5, 1.0, and 1.6 cm), in number (five to 11), and in calcium content (0-25 mg) were superimposed over the lungs of a frozen, unembalmed, human chest phantom. For each technique, six observers examined 50 posteroanterior projections with different randomized nodule locations. Detection consisted of locating and assigning a level of confidence to each perceived nodular opacity. The resulting plots of the true-positive fraction versus the mean number of false-positive calls per projection indicate that for both calcified and noncalcified nodules, the digital unit performed significantly better (P less than .01).
D002102:Cadaver; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011859:Radiography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013382:Subtraction Technique