DIGITAL CHEST RADIOGRAPHY - COMPARISON OF UNPROCESSED AND PROCESSED IMAGES IN THE DETECTION OF SOLITARY PULMONARY NODULES

PURPOSE: To compare the accuracy with which simulated solitary pulmona ry nodules can be identified on digital images of the chest that are u nprocessed, processed with adaptive spatial filtering, or processed wi th global filtering. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Six experienced chest radi ologists evaluated 408 test radiographs (136 from each of the three ty pes, half with simulated nodules) and judged whether a nodule was pres ent. Data from the 2,448 observations were evaluated by means of a rec eiver operating characteristic curve with location methods. RESULTS: A ccuracy was significantly better with the adaptive filter technique th an with the global technique (P < .05), and it was better with adaptiv e filtering than with no processing in the detection of pulmonary nodu les in the mediastinal-subdiaphragmatic areas (P < .05). No significan t difference was found between no processing and global filtering. CON CLUSION: Adaptive filtration is superior to global filtration in the i dentification of solitary pulmonary nodules and is superior to no proc essing in nodules projected over the radiopaque areas of the thorax on digital images.