Versteeg C H, Sanderink G C, Lobach S R, van der Stelt P F
Department of Oral Radiology, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), The Netherlands.
Dentomaxillofac Radiol. 1998 Mar;27(2):93-6. doi: 10.1038/sj/dmfr/4600329.
To analyse the effect of reduction in size of digital images on diagnostic outcome.
A series of 100 Visualix III (Gendex Dental Systems, Milano, Italy; Dentsply, Des Plaines, IL, USA) images was made of size 10 and 15 endodontic files in upper and lower (pre)molars. Three forms of image were created: (a) the original images, (b) reduced to one-half (containing one-quarter of the information of the original, and (c) zoomed-in, half-size images (magnification 2:1; original image size but with only one-quarter of the original information). Seven radiologists were asked to rate the position of the tip of the file, using a five-point confidence scale. ROC data were analysed by means of MANOVA statistics.
A significant difference was found between the three image modalities for both size 10 (P < 0.005), and size 15 (P < 0.021) files.
Reduction in size of digital images may cause less detectability as well as loss of diagnostic information.
