DIGITAL RADIOGRAPHIC IMAGING TRANSFER - COMPARISON WITH PLAIN RADIOGRAPHS

Advances in digital imaging and computer display technology have allow ed development of clinical teleradiographic systems, There are limited data assessing the effectiveness of such systems when applied to urol ogic pathology, In an effort to appraise the effectiveness of teleradi ology in identifying renal calculi, the accuracy of findings on transm itted radiographic images were compared with those made when viewing t he actual plain film, Plain films (KUB) were obtained from 26 patients who presented to the radiology department to rule out urinary calculo us disease, The films were digitalized by a radiograph scanner into AR CNEMA-2 file format, compressed by a NASA algorithm, and transferred v ia a 28.8-kbps modem over standard telephone lines to a remote section 25 miles away, where they were decompressed and viewed on a 1600 x 12 00-pixel monitor, Two attending urologists and two endourologic fellow s were randomized to read either the transmitted image or the original radiograph with minimal clinical history provided, Of the 26 plain ra diographic films, 24 were correctly interpreted by the fellows and 25 by the attending physicians (92% and 96% accuracy, respectively) for a total accuracy of 94% with no statistical difference (p = 0.16), Afte r compression, all but one of the digital images were transferred succ essfully, The attending physicians correctly interpreted 24 of the 25 digital images (96%), whereas the fellows were correct on 21 interpret ations (84%), resulting in a total 90% accuracy with a significant dif ference between the groups (p less than or equal to 0.04). Overall, no statistical difference between the interpretations of the plain film and the digital image was revealed (p = 0.21), Using available technol ogy, KUB images can be transmitted to a remote site, and the location of a stone can be determined correctly, Higher accuracy is demonstrate d by experienced surgeons.