SELENIUM RADIOGRAPHY VERSUS STORAGE PHOSPHOR AND CONVENTIONAL RADIOGRAPHY IN THE DETECTION OF SIMULATED CHEST LESIONS

PURPOSE: To compare selenium detectors with three conventional and dig ital detector systems for the detection of simulated pulmonary lesions . MATERIALS AND METHODS: Templates containing nodules, linear structur es, and micronodular opacities were superimposed over an anthropomorph ic chest phantom. The authors compared lesion detection with use of st orage phosphor radiography (250 speed), selenium radiography (250 spee d) with an antiscatter grid, selenium radiography (450 speed) without an antiscatter grid, an asymmetric screen-film system (400 speed), and a conventional screenfilm system (250 speed). Detection performance o f 10 radiologists was compared by using a multireader-multicase receiv er operating characteristic analysis of variance. RESULTS: For the det ection of nodules, no statistically significant differences between im aging modes were seen. For the detection of micronodules and linear le sions, both selenium techniques were superior to all other modes (P < .05). In addition, the asymmetric screen-film radiographs were inferio r (P < .05) to the conventional screen-film radiographs and to storage phosphor radiographs for the detection of micronodules. CONCLUSION: T he selenium detector improves detection of simulated fine linear and l ow-contrast micronodular details and appears to be superior to other d etector systems for chest radiography.