COMPARATIVE-EVALUATION OF DIGITAL RADIOGRAPHY VERSUS CONVENTIONAL RADIOGRAPHY OF FRACTURED SKULLS

OBJECTIVES. The authors assessed the relative efficacy of conventional and digital storage-phosphor radiographs for the detection of skull f ractures. METHODS. Fifty conventional film-screen radiographs (FSR) an d 50 digital storage-phosphor radiographs (DR) with 66 fractures were compared. Five radiologists evaluated image quality and fracture detec tability. The results were analyzed by receiver operating characterist ic (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS. With a standard exposure, the abilit y to evaluate skull fractures was equally good with either technique ( ROC area for DR, 0.8954; for FSR, 0.8870). Digital radiography was sup erior in evaluating nasal bone. For petrosal bone, the DR image simula tes an underexposure. This disadvantage compared with FSR can be compe nsated by image postprocessing. CONCLUSION. In evaluation of skull fra ctures, radiologists performance with DR is equivalent to FSR.