Advance in the diagnosis of esophageal carcinoma. A new imaging process by adaptive spatial filtering of computed esophagograms.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the clinical utility of computed radiographic images processed with adaptive spatial filtering (ASF) in the diagnosis of esophageal carcinoma.


METHODS
After determining the optimal values for ASF image parameters in double-contrast barium studies, we used ASF to process the esophagograms of 35 patients with 37 esophageal carcinomas (superficial 20, advanced 17). The image quality of each lesion was evaluated independently by four radiologists on the basis of detectability, extent, and surface structure. The scoring was: 1 when the ASF image was superior to the original; -1 when the converse was true; and 0 when quality of images was equal.


RESULTS
In superficial carcinoma, the mean scores for image quality with regard to detectability, extent, and surface structure were 0.19, 0.48, and 0.31 respectively. In advanced carcinoma, the scores were 0.00, 0.76, and 0.25 respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
ASF offers an improved image quality which is valuable in the evaluation of esophageal carcinoma, particularly in the detection of superficial carcinomas and in the identification of intraepithelial extension.
Ueyama
T
T
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Kawamoto
K
K
Yamada
Y
Y
Yoshikawa
H
H
Masuda
K
K
D001466:Barium Sulfate; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003287:Contrast Media; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D015588:Observer Variation; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000592:standards
D003287:Contrast Media; D001466:Barium Sulfate