title: Agreement and reading time for differently-priced devices for the digital capture of X-ray films.
abstract: We assessed the reliability of three digital capture devices: a film digitizer (which cost US $15,000), a flat-bed scanner (US $1800) and a digital camera (US $450). Reliability was measured as the agreement between six observers when reading images acquired from a single device and also in terms of the pair-device agreement. The images were 136 chest X-ray cases. The variables measured were the interstitial opacities distribution, interstitial patterns, nodule size and percentage pneumothorax size. The agreement between the six readers when reading images acquired from a single device was similar for the three devices. The pair-device agreements were moderate for all variables. There were significant differences in reading-time between devices: the mean reading-time for the film digitizer was 93 s, it was 59 s for the flat-bed scanner and 70 s for the digital camera. Despite the differences in their cost, there were no substantial differences in the performance of the three devices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. ant-sala@uniandes.edu.co
authors.forename: Antonio José
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Salazar
authors.forename: Juan Camilo
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Camacho
authors.forename: Diego Andrés
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Aguirre
mesh_terms: D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D012372:ROC Curve; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000191:economics* / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013997:Time Factors; D014963:X-Ray Intensifying Screens / Q000191:economics*