Influence of scatter reduction on lesion signal-to-noise ratio and lesion detection in digital chest radiography

摘要

This study was performed to investigate the effect of an additional antiscatter grid on the detail signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the visual detail detectability with a digital chest radiography system. An anthropomorphic chest phantom with different types of superimposed lesions was used to obtain four series of images simulating slim and thick patients, both with and without an additional grid. The exposure to the phantom was identical for the grid and non- grid situations. Difference images were then produced by subtracting an 'empty' thorax image (without superimposed lesions) from each image of the series. The difference images were used to measure detail contrast and detail SNR in different areas of the chest. Although the grid generally improved the lesion contrast, an improvement in lesion SNR was only obtained for some lesions in the obscured regions. In the lung area the lesion SNR was lower with the grid. ROC analysis showed only minor differences between grid and non-grid images in the visual detectability of the lesions; detectability was significantly higher, however, in the difference images compared to the original chest images. The results indicate that the use of the additional antiscatter grid is not necessary if the image contrast is restored by suitable image processing. Methods which reduce or eliminate the overlying anatomical structures in chest images lead to a significantly higher lesion detectability.