title: Conventional film-screen versus computed storage phosphor radiography. Simulated miliary lung disease in an anthropomorphic phantom.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In this experimental study, the authors examined whether laser printed hardcopies from digital storage phosphor radiographs yield diagnostic performance equal to conventional film-screen radiographs in the detection of simulated miliary disease, using a standardized object.
  
  
  METHODS
  A commercially available anthropomorphic chest phantom was used for radiographic evaluation. Miliary disease was simulated by superimposing one to four sheets of millet seeds on the lungs, resembling a miliary disease pattern with varying degrees of detectability. An observer study (receiver-operating characteristic) with eight radiologists was conducted to compare the reader performance using hardcopies of computed storage phosphor radiography versus the conventional film-screen system, optimized for chest x-rays. The digitally generated images were presented as a double-image hardcopy, with a conventionally adopted version and an edge enhanced image version.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When analyzed separately, one out of the eight observers performed slightly better using the conventional films. When treated as a group, analysis of the areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves demonstrated no significant difference in reader performance for each of the systems under investigation (t = 0.286). The Wilcoxon test could not prove a statistical difference.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Storage phosphor technology is a method that yields equal diagnostic performance as conventional film in evaluating miliary disease of the chest.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Danube-Hospital, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mosser
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pärtan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Urban
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Krampla
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ottes
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hruby
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008961:Models, Structural; D012372:ROC Curve; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D014963:X-Ray Intensifying Screens / Q000706:statistics & numerical data