Interpretation of subtle interstitial chest abnormalities: conventional radiography versus high-resolution storage-phosphor radiography--a preliminary study.

To evaluate the reliability of digital chest radiography in diagnosing subtle interstitial lung abnormalities, we performed several clinical studies including a comparison of conventional screen-film radiography and storage-phosphor radiography (2 K x 2 K pixels, 10 bit), and a comparison of conventional screen-film radiography and film-digitized radiography (2 K x 2 K pixels, 10 bit). From these previous studies, a spatial resolution of 0.2-mm pixel size was considered inadequate to diagnose subtle interstitial lung diseases. Under these circumstances, the newly developed Fuji Computed Radiography system (FCR 9000; Fuji Photo Film, Tokyo, Japan) has recently become available. This system provides 0.1-mm pixel size (4 K x 5 K pixels, 10-bit depth) and life-size hard copies (14 x 17 inches). To evaluate the reliability of new high-resolution storage-phosphor radiography (FCR 9000) in diagnosing simulated subtle interstitial abnormalities (including simulated lines, micronodules, and groundglass opacities), the differences among radiologists in interpreting conventional screen-film radiographs and life-size high-resolution storage-phosphor radiographs were studied. Observation was made by eight experienced chest radiologists and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed. There was no significant difference in detecting in subtle simulated interstitial abnormalities between conventional film-screen radiography and high-resolution storage-phosphor radiography. For all three types of abnormalities, there was no significant difference between conventional and storage-phosphor radiography. In conclusion, the high-resolution storage-phosphor chest radiography (0.1-mm pixel size, 10-bit depth) may be substituted for conventional chest radiography in the detection of subtle interstitial abnormalities.