title: Effect of greyscale liquid crystal displays of different resolutions on observer performance during detection of small solitary pulmonary nodules.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of monochrome liquid crystal displays (LCDs) with different resolutions on observer performance during detection of small solitary pulmonary nodules.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chest images of digital radiography were selected online from the hospital's picture archiving and communication system. Of the 164 images selected, small solitary non-calcified pulmonary nodules were present in 63 images and absent in 101 images. Observer performance was assessed among 3 extremely experienced, 3 very experienced and 3 moderately experienced radiologists, who independently interpreted these images on 2, 3 and 5 megapixel greyscale LCDs. A five-point confidence level rating scale was used to represent the presence of nodules: definite absence, probable absence, indetermination, probable presence and definite presence. The observers were requested to rank each image on the given display according to the presence of the pulmonary nodule. Observer performance was analysed in terms of receiver operating characteristics (ROCs).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The areas under the ROC curves which represented the observer performance for the 2, 3 and 5 megapixel LCDs were found to be 0.705, 0.722 and 0.764, respectively, for the extremely experienced radiologists; 0.687, 0.712 and 0.721, respectively, for the very experienced radiologists; and 0.689, 0.696 and 0.711, respectively, for the moderately experienced radiologists. These differences were not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The observer performances for detection of small solitary non-calcified pulmonary nodules by radiologists with varying degrees of experience were comparable between the 2, 3 and 5 megapixel monochrome LCDs.
authors: Department of Radiology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Yin
authors: Q
authors: Q
authors: Guo
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Zhang
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Su
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Yue
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Ding
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Lin
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003116:Color; D003626:Data Display; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D050866:Liquid Crystals; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D003074:Solitary Pulmonary Nodule / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D055815:Young Adult