The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether radiologists perform
equally well with plain radiographs or digitized images displayed on
a video monitor in interpretation of difficult orthopedic trauma cases
. Interpretations with film and those made from a teleradiology system
with spatial resolution of 2.35 line pairs per millimeter were compar
ed in 120 difficult cases, 60 with the selected abnormality (ie, fract
ure or dislocation) and 60 that were control cases. Seven senior radio
logy residents and one radiology fellow each interpreted 60 randomly o
rdered cases with the teleradiology system (1,280 x 1,024-pixel monito
rs) and 60 cases with the original radiographs. The overall accuracy o
f the readers was 80.6% for film interpretations and 59.6% for telerad
iology screen readings (P < .001). Sensitivity was 78.5% for film and
48.8% for on-screen images (P < .001), and specificity was 83.2% for f
ilm and 72.3% for on-screen images (P < .025). Receiver operating char
acteristic analysis showed rejection of the null hypothesis in favor o
f film interpretation (P < .0049). It was concluded that the teleradio
logy system was not acceptable for primary diagnostic interpretation o
f difficult fracture cases.