The Diagnosis of Small Solitary Pulmonary Nodule: Comparison of Standard and Inverse Digital Images on a High-Resolution Monitor using ROC Analysis.
10.3348/jkrs.2002.47.6.601
- Author:
Byeong Kyoo CHOI
1
;
In Sun LEE
;
Joon Beom SEO
;
Jin Seong LEE
;
Koun Sik SONG
;
Tae Hwan LIM
Author Information
1. Department of Radiology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Korea. seojb@amc.seoul.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Diagnostic radiology, observer performance;
Lung, nodule;
Radiography, digital
- MeSH:
Diagnosis*;
Humans;
Radiographic Image Enhancement;
Radiography;
Radiography, Thoracic;
ROC Curve*;
Solitary Pulmonary Nodule*;
Thorax
- From:Journal of the Korean Radiological Society
2002;47(6):601-605
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
PURPOSE: To study the impact of inversion of soft-copy chest radiographs on the detection of small solitary pulmonary nodules using a high-resolution monitor. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study group consisted of 80 patients who had undergone posterior chest radiography; 40 had a solitary noncalcified pulmonary nodule approximately 1 cm in diameter, and 40 were control subjects. Standard and inverse digital images using the inversion tool on a PACS system were displayed on high-resolution monitors (2048x2560x8 bit). Ten radiologists were requested to rank each image using a five-point scale (1=definitely negative, 3=equivocal or indeterminate, 5=definite nodule), and the data were interpreted using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. RESULTS: The area under the ROC curve for pooled data of standard image sets was significantly larger than that of inverse image sets (0.8893 and 0.8095, respectively; p<0.05). Interpretation of both standard and inversion images did not lead to more accurate detection of small pulmonary nodules (area under the ROC curve: 0.8835 and 0.8893, respectively; p>0.05). CONCLUSION: For detecting small solitary pulmonary nodules, inverse digital images were significantly inferior to standard digital images.