A ROC STUDY OF AMBER AND CONVENTIONAL CHEST IMAGING IN THE DETECTION OF SIMULATED INTERSTITIAL LUNG-DISEASE

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the detection of simulat ed interstitial lung disease with Advanced Multiple Beam Equalization Radiography (AMBER) and conventional wide latitude screen-film radiogr aphy. Materials and methods: Interstitial disease of varying severity was simulated with overlays on an anthropomorphic chest phantom. A tot al of 60 images per modality was used in a Receiver Operating Characte ristic (ROC) study. Results: AMBER performed significantly better than conventional radiography for all readers (P < 0.02). The difference w as even more significant for the radiologist readers (P = 0.001). In e ach case the difference in ROC areas was between 5% and 9%. Conclusion . AMBER is superior to conventional wide latitude screen-film imaging in detecting the subtle patterns used to simulate interstitial lung di sease.