title: Evaluation of usefulness of color digital summation radiography for solitary pulmonary nodules on chest radiographs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of novel color digital summation radiography (CDSR) for detecting solitary pulmonary nodules on chest radiographs by observers with different levels of experience.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 30 healthy controls and 30 patients with newly detected solitary pulmonary nodules were evaluated. Six radiologists and five residents evaluated three image sets: set A, current and prior radiographs only; set B, set A with temporal subtraction images; and set C, set A with CDSR. The observers were asked to rate each image set using a continuous rating scale. In addition, the reading time required for each set was recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The radiologists showed no significant differences in the mean A(z) value between set A, set B, and set C. However, the residents showed significant differences between set A and set B and between set A and set C. In addition, for set B and set C, the mean reading time per case of all readers was significantly shorter than that for set A.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The detection capability of observers with little experience is comparable to that of experienced observers when reading radiographs with temporal subtraction images or with CDSR. The usefulness of CDSR is comparable to that of temporal subtraction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Yamadaoka 1-7, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. ogata@sahs.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ogata
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Naito
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tomiyama
authors.forename: Seiki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hamada
authors.forename: Mitusko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsubamoto
authors.forename: Atsuo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Sachiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murai
authors.forename: Hiromitu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sumikawa
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ueguchi
authors.forename: Mitsuhiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tamura
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishinosono
authors.forename: Hironobu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Johkoh
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D015588:Observer Variation; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D003074:Solitary Pulmonary Nodule / Q000175:diagnosis*