Dynamic range control processing of digital chest images. A clinical evaluation.
OBJECTIVE
The clinical usefulness of an advanced image-processing system called "dynamic range control processing" was investigated, with which selected parts of the dynamic range of digital chest images could be controlled.


METHODS
A comparative study of 3 different post-processed formats of storage phosphor (SR) images was performed in 35 patients with abnormalities in the chest. The 3 formats were SR images with standard mode (SR-standard), SR images with strong edge-enhancement (SR-enhanced), and dynamic range controlled SR images (SR-controlled).


RESULTS
For lung abnormalities, there was no difference among the 3 SR image formats. For normal mediastinal structures and lung abnormalities covered by the heart or diaphragm, SR-controlled and SR-enhanced images were significantly superior to SR-standard images, while no difference was found between SR-controlled and SR-enhanced images except for the trachea and bony structures.


CONCLUSIONS
Dynamic range control processing appears to be a useful method for displaying SR chest images with an extremely wide dynamic range.
Ikezoe
J
J
Department of Radiology, Osaka University Medical School, Japan.
Takeuchi
N
N
Kido
S
S
Kondoh
H
H
Johkoh
T
T
Kohno
N
N
Arisawa
J
J
Kozuka
T
T
Tanaka
H
H
Nakajima
N
N
Kato
H
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008482:Mediastinum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D010994:Pleura / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data