title: A comparative contrast perception phantom image of brain CT study between high-grade and low-grade liquid crystal displays (LCDs) in electronic medical charts.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to clarify whether non-medical-grade liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are acceptable for the soft-copy reading of brain CTs. Four kinds of color LCDs with different image quality levels were used: medical-grade LCD, low-grade general LCD calibrated with the grayscale display function (GSDF), low-grade general LCD calibrated with gamma 2.2 and a notebook personal computer display panel. In Osirix's standard window setting for brain CTs, the average CT values of brain parenchyma in 100 cases were correlated with a grayscale level ranging from 71 to 91 in a 256-step grayscale. At these gray levels, the image contrast on the two low-grade LCDs calibrated with gamma 2.2 was higher than that on the medical-grade LCD. Eleven healthy volunteers participated in the contrast perception study, which used electronically generated target phantom images that simulated subtle abnormalities with a low or high attenuation difference in brain parenchyma. The three low-grade LCDs showed correct response rates and reaction times that were superior to those of the medical-grade display. The grayscale calibrations, GSDF or gamma 2.2, are likely to be more critical than the display grade, suggesting that the use of a low-grade LCD may be acceptable in the image contrast of brain CT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiological Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Higashi-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. yosimura@met.nagoya-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kumiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shimamoto
authors.forename: Mitsuru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Katsuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Naganawa
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003116:Color; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000295:instrumentation*; D050866:Liquid Crystals; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014796:Visual Perception