title: [Comparison of digital radiography and conventional X-ray in the diagnosis of solitary pulmonary nodule with receiver operating characteristic analysis].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare digital radiographs with conventional radiographs in the detection of solitary pulmonary nodules.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty patients with solitary pulmonary nodule and 30 cases without pulmonary nodules were enrolled in the study. The existence of solitary pulmonary nodule was confirmed by chest computed tomography (CT) as well as biopsy. All patients examined by both digital radiography (group A) and conventional radiographs (group B) were reviewed by four experienced chest radiologists and four residents. Assessment was performed with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of the images in both groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  (1) Observer performance of the experienced radiologists in group B (Az=0.838) was superior to that in group A (Az=0.816) (P<0.05) in detection of solitary pulmonary nodule. For the residents, observer performance in group B (Az=0.842) was superior to that in group A (Az=0.712) (P<0.05). (2) There was no difference between the two groups (P=0.272), for the judgement of benign or malignant solitary pulmonary nodule.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Digital radiographs is superior to conventional radiographs in detection of solitary pulmonary nodule. However, there was no significant differences in discrimination between benign and malignant solitary pulmonary nodules in the two groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Nanfang Hospital, First Military Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Wei-guo
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jiang-yun
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xin-hua
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic / Q000379:methods*; D003074:Solitary Pulmonary Nodule / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*