A Flat‐Panel Detector Digital Radiography and a Storage Phosphor Computed Radiography: Screening for Pneumoconioses

Abstract

A b s t r a c t : A F l a t -P a n e l D e t e c t o r D i g i t a l Radiography and a Storage Phosphor ComputedWe compared these two techniques with conventional a n a l o g u e c h e s t r a d i o g r a p h ( A R ) a m o n g pneumoconiotic patients and healthy controls. Thirty individuals consisting of 20 silica-exposed ex-workers and 10 healthy controls without occupational exposure to any mineral dust were examined with chest X-ray by AR, SR and FPD. Three occupational physicians, including one NIOSH B reader, assessed the digital and conventional radiographs by the side-by-side method according to the ILO 2000 International Classification of Radiograph of Pneumoconioses (ILO/ ICRP). No significant difference was shown between the subjective film qualities by AR and FPD. Interreader agreement of the profusion of small opacities on radiographs was high in the order of SR (κ=0.64), FPD (κ=0.62), and AR (κ=0.55). The profusions of small opacity for AR and FPD by the 12-point scaled profusion of ILO/ICRP did not show a statistically significant difference, but those for AR and SR showed a significant difference. The areas under the receiver operator curves (ROC) using clinical diagnosis by a pulmonologist as the reference showed no statistically significant difference among the three radiographic techniques. FPD gives image quality as good as that of AR, and it has acceptable agreement with AR in small profusion categories, which consequently assures its application to pneumoconiosis screening. SR showed less profusion than FPD and AR, which can be fixed with image modification. (J Occup Health 2007; 49: 39-45)

Comparison of storage phosphor computed radiography with conventional film-screen radiography in the recognition of pneumoconiosis

“…Two previous investigations have used human subjects in addressing the utility of digital images in the recognition of dust-related lung diseases [3,10]. In the study of TAKASHIMA et al [10], readers evaluated laser-printed hard copies of digital images obtained using both CR and DR systems, as well as traditional FSR obtained within 6 months of the digitally acquired images among 20 silica-exposed workers and 10 healthy controls.…”

“…In the study of TAKASHIMA et al [10], readers evaluated laser-printed hard copies of digital images obtained using both CR and DR systems, as well as traditional FSR obtained within 6 months of the digitally acquired images among 20 silica-exposed workers and 10 healthy controls. Readers simultaneously viewed and compared the three hard copy images from each participant (FSR, CR, and DR) side-byside on view boxes.…”

Effect of a Two‐hour Training on Physicians' Skill in Interpreting Pneumoconiotic Chest Radiographs

“…Radiological imaging plays an important role in the diagnosis of silicosis and asbestosis. Although it has some limitations in terms of detecting the earliest findings of pleural and parenchymal lung abnormalities 6) , chest radiographs remain the most important method of chest imaging, providing an easily accessible, cheap and effective diagnostic tool 7,8) which is the basic tool for identifying occupational and environmental lung diseases 9) . On radiographs, anatomical parenchymal structures are seen as overlapping, which affects the sensitivity and specificity of the method; it is sometimes difficult, especially for inexperienced physicians, to distinguish pleural plaque on plain chest radiograph from mimicking shadows, such as rib-companion shadows, serratus anterior and oblique externus abdominis muscles and extra-pleural fat.…”

Patrón de lectura radiológica digital para la clasificación de imágenes compatibles con silicosis

“…Si bien se ha descrito que existe una alta concordancia entre la interpretación de la lectura digital directa y la análoga, otros han puesto en evidencia una mayor dispersión de resultados. 10 De hecho, y debido a los diferentes métodos de examinación y de procesamiento de imágenes, 11 la radiografía digital tiene una sensibilidad mayor que su par análogo, por lo que ofrece al médico imágenes que no se ven en la radiografía tradicional, aumentando la posibilidad de error en médicos no entrenados. El presente trabajo propone conformar un set de radiografías digitales que constituyan el patrón de referencia para la lectura de ese tipo de imágenes obtenidas en trabajadores expuestos a sílice.…”