title: Advance in the diagnosis of esophageal carcinoma. A new imaging process by adaptive spatial filtering of computed esophagograms.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ueyama
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawamoto
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Masuda
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D001466:Barium Sulfate