Clinical usefulness of digital radiography in the gastrointestinal tract: efficacy of magnification method.

We assessed the performance capabilities of image intensifier digital radiography (II DR) in the detection of minute lesions in patients with early stomach cancer. The DR system was a prototype II DR system developed by Toshiba Corp (Tokyo, Japan). This system was able to acquire images with a 1,024- x 1,024-pixel matrix and 12 bits. Radiography was performed using a 0.3-mm tube focus. For the detectability of early stomach cancer, DR was judged to be superior to conventional screen-film system (CFSS) (DR superior, 55.7%; CFSS superior, 22.6%). In depicting the characteristics of the surface of the lesion, DR was also judged to be superior to CFSS (DR superior, 56.6%; CFSS superior, 17.0%). The II DR system used in this study was able to achieve almost the same spatial resolution as conventional radiography using the magnification method. It was also able to visualize subtle findings of early gastric cancer more clearly by the use of postprocessing. In addition, II DR has the advantages of reducing the patient exposure dose and permitting the acquisition of real-time images.