EXPERIENCES WITH A TELERADIOLOGY SYSTEM IN PULMONARY-DISEASES

Chest radiographs of 43 patients were digitized and sent from Paimio H ospital to Turku University Central Hospital. Fifteen of the patients had a pneumothorax, 12 had interstitial lung disease and 16 were contr ols. The images were interpreted by 5 radiologists during their duty s hift. The first reading session consisted of images with 1024 x 1024 p ixel resolution and the second of images with 2048 x 2048 matrix follo wed by the original chest radiographs. ROC studies were performed from the answers based on a 5-point confidence scale. In the pneumothorax group the average area under the individual ROC curve was 0.928 with t he 1024 x 1024 matrix and 0.983 with the 2048 x 2048 matrix. In the fi brosis group the average area under the individual ROC curve was 0.877 with the 1024 x 1024 matrix and 0.831 with the 2048 x 2048 matrix. Th e results suggest that the 1024 x 1024 matrix is adequate in the detec tion of pneumothoraces and fibrosis.