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Influence of the characteristic curve on the clinical image quality of lumbar spine and chest radiographs

¹ Department of Radiation Physics, Malmö University Hospital, SE-205 02 Malmö, Sweden, ² GSF-National Research Centre for Environment and Health, D-857 64 Neuherberg, Germany, ³ Department of Radiation Physics, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, SE-413 45 Göteborg, Sweden, ⁴ Department of Radiation Physics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, SE-581 85 Linköping, Sweden, ⁵ Joint Department of Physics, The Royal Marsden NHS Trust, Fulham Road, London SW3 6JJ, UK, ⁶ Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Malmö University Hospital, SE-205 02 Malmö, Sweden and ⁷ Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, SE-413 45 Göteborg, Sweden

View larger version (19K): [in a new window]   Figure 1. H&D curves of different screen–film systems for lumbar spine radiographs with simulated film characteristics. The characteristic curves of L and G film were measured according to ISO 9236 (at 70 kV [1]).

View larger version (17K): [in a new window]   Figure 2. H&D curves of different screen–film systems for chest radiographs with simulated film characteristics. The dotted curve corresponds to measurements according to ISO 9236 (at 120 kV [1]).

View larger version (95K): [in a new window]   Figure 3. Example of (a) lumbar spine and (b) chest radiograph without and with masking.

View larger version (9K): [in a new window]   Figure 4. Lumbar spine: the visual grading analysis score (VGAS) vs the average gradient. One standard error is indicated. The horizontal lines indicate data points that cannot be separated from each other (the same VGAS). VGAS=0 means "equal to the reference image".

View larger version (8K): [in a new window]   Figure 5. Lumbar spine: the image criteria score (ICS) vs the average gradient. One standard error is indicated. The horizontal times indicate data points that cannot be separated from each other (the same ICS). There was no significant difference in ICS value for the different data points.

View larger version (15K): [in a new window]   Figure 6. Chest: the visual grading analysis score (VGAS) vs the average gradient. One standard error is indicated. All data points within one radiographic technique are significantly different from each other (the same VGAS). VGAS=0 means "equal to the reference image".

View larger version (14K): [in a new window]   Figure 7. Chest: the image criteria score (ICS) vs the average gradient. One standard error is indicated. The horizontal lines indicate data points that cannot be separated from each other (the same ICS).

View larger version (12K): [in a new window]   Figure 8. The correlation between clinical and physical measures of image quality in the (a) lumbar spine and (b) chest examination. Correlation for lumbar spine between visual grading analysis score (VGAS) for structure 5 and change in optical density (OD) L3T (r=0.95, p=0.050) and for chest for structure 6 and OD RCA (r=0.98, p=0.005) are shown. The solid curves in (a) and (b) are the linear regression lines. OD L3T denotes the optical density difference of a transverse process in the L3 vertebrae and OD RCA denotes the optical density difference of a blood vessel in the retrocardiac area (RCA).