INTERPRETATION OF SUBTLE INTERSTITIAL CHEST ABNORMALITIES - CONVENTIONAL RADIOGRAPHY VERSUS HIGH-RESOLUTION STORAGE-PHOSPHOR RADIOGRAPHY - A PRELIMINARY-STUDY

To evaluate the reliability of digital chest radiography in diagnosing subtle interstitial lung abnormalities, we performed several clinical studies including a comparison of conventional screen-film radiograph y and storage-phosphor radiography (2 K x 2 K pixels, 10 bit), and a c omparison of conventional screen-film radiography and film-digitized r adiography (2 K x 2 K pixels, 10 bit). From these previous studies, a spatial resolution of 0.2-mm pixel size was considered inadequate to d iagnose subtle interstitial lung diseases. Under these circumstances, the newly developed Fuji Computed Radiography system (FCR 9000; Fuji P hoto Film, Tokyo, Japan) has recently become available. This system pr ovides 0.1-mm pixel size (4 K x 5 K pixels, 10-bit depth) and life-siz e hard copies (14 x 17 inches), To evaluate the reliability of new hig h-resolution storage-phosphor radiography (FCR 9000) in diagnosing sim ulated subtle interstitial abnormalities (including simulated lines, m icronodules, and groundglass opacities), the differences among radiolo gists in interpreting conventional screen-film radiographs and life-si ze high-resolution storage-phosphor radiographs were studied. Observat ion was made by eight experienced chest radiologists, and receiver-ope rating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed. There was no signi ficant difference in detecting in subtle simulated interstitial abnorm alities between conventional film-screen radiography and high-resoluti on storage-phosphor radiography. For all three types of abnormalities, there was no significant difference between conventional and storage phosphor radiography, In conclusion, the high-resolution storage-phosp hor chest radiography (0.1-mm pixel size, 10-bit depth) may be substit uted for conventional chest radiography in the detection of subtle int erstitial abnormalities. Copyright (C) 1995 by W.B. Saunders Company