[Comparison of digital radiography and conventional X-ray in the diagnosis of solitary pulmonary nodule with receiver operating characteristic analysis].

OBJECTIVE

To compare digital radiographs with conventional radiographs in the detection of solitary pulmonary nodules.

METHODS

Thirty patients with solitary pulmonary nodule and 30 cases without pulmonary nodules were enrolled in the study. The existence of solitary pulmonary nodule was confirmed by chest computed tomography (CT) as well as biopsy. All patients examined by both digital radiography (group A) and conventional radiographs (group B) were reviewed by four experienced chest radiologists and four residents. Assessment was performed with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of the images in both groups.

RESULTS

(1) Observer performance of the experienced radiologists in group B (Az=0.838) was superior to that in group A (Az=0.816) (P<0.05) in detection of solitary pulmonary nodule. For the residents, observer performance in group B (Az=0.842) was superior to that in group A (Az=0.712) (P<0.05). (2) There was no difference between the two groups (P=0.272), for the judgement of benign or malignant solitary pulmonary nodule.

CONCLUSIONS

Digital radiographs is superior to conventional radiographs in detection of solitary pulmonary nodule. However, there was no significant differences in discrimination between benign and malignant solitary pulmonary nodules in the two groups.