Computed radiography dual energy subtraction: performance evaluation when detecting low-contrast lung nodules in an anthropomorphic phantom.
(1/1703)
A dedicated chest computed radiography (CR) system has an option of energy subtraction (ES) acquisition. Two imaging plates, rather than one, are separated by a copper filter to give a high-energy and low-energy image. This study compares the diagnostic accuracy of conventional computed radiography to that of ES obtained with two radiographic techniques. One soft tissue only image was obtained at the conventional CR technique (s = 254) and the second was obtained at twice the radiation exposure (s = 131) to reduce noise. An anthropomorphic phantom with superimposed low-contrast lung nodules was imaged 53 times for each radiographic technique. Fifteen images had no nodules; 38 images had a total of 90 nodules placed on the phantom. Three chest radiologists read the three sets of images in a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) study. Significant differences in Az were only found between (1) the higher exposure energy subtracted images and the conventional dose energy subtracted images (P = .095, 90% confidence), and (2) the conventional CR and the energy subtracted image obtained at the same technique (P = .024, 98% confidence). As a result of this study, energy subtracted images cannot be substituted for conventional CR images when detecting low-contrast nodules, even when twice the exposure is used to obtain them. (+info)
Computerized analysis of abnormal asymmetry in digital chest radiographs: evaluation of potential utility.
(2/1703)
The purpose of this study was to develop and test a computerized method for the fully automated analysis of abnormal asymmetry in digital posteroanterior (PA) chest radiographs. An automated lung segmentation method was used to identify the aerated lung regions in 600 chest radiographs. Minimal a priori lung morphology information was required for this gray-level thresholding-based segmentation. Consequently, segmentation was applicable to grossly abnormal cases. The relative areas of segmented right and left lung regions in each image were compared with the corresponding area distributions of normal images to determine the presence of abnormal asymmetry. Computerized diagnoses were compared with image ratings assigned by a radiologist. The ability of the automated method to distinguish normal from asymmetrically abnormal cases was evaluated by using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, which yielded an area under the ROC curve of 0.84. This automated method demonstrated promising performance in its ability to detect abnormal asymmetry in PA chest images. We believe this method could play a role in a picture archiving and communications (PACS) environment to immediately identify abnormal cases and to function as one component of a multifaceted computer-aided diagnostic scheme. (+info)
A reliability study for evaluating information extraction from radiology reports.
(3/1703)
GOAL: To assess the reliability of a reference standard for an information extraction task. SETTING: Twenty-four physician raters from two sites and two specialties judged whether clinical conditions were present based on reading chest radiograph reports. METHODS: Variance components, generalizability (reliability) coefficients, and the number of expert raters needed to generate a reliable reference standard were estimated. RESULTS: Per-rater reliability averaged across conditions was 0.80 (95% CI, 0.79-0.81). Reliability for the nine individual conditions varied from 0.67 to 0.97, with central line presence and pneumothorax the most reliable, and pleural effusion (excluding CHF) and pneumonia the least reliable. One to two raters were needed to achieve a reliability of 0.70, and six raters, on average, were required to achieve a reliability of 0.95. This was far more reliable than a previously published per-rater reliability of 0.19 for a more complex task. Differences between sites were attributable to changes to the condition definitions. CONCLUSION: In these evaluations, physician raters were able to judge very reliably the presence of clinical conditions based on text reports. Once the reliability of a specific rater is confirmed, it would be possible for that rater to create a reference standard reliable enough to assess aggregate measures on a system. Six raters would be needed to create a reference standard sufficient to assess a system on a case-by-case basis. These results should help evaluators design future information extraction studies for natural language processors and other knowledge-based systems. (+info)
An approach to the problems of diagnosing and treating adult smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis in high-HIV-prevalence settings in sub-Saharan Africa.
(4/1703)
The overlap between the populations in sub-Saharan Africa infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis has led to an upsurge in tuberculosis cases over the last 10 years. The relative increase in the proportion of notified sputum-smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) cases is greater than that of sputum-smear-positive PTB cases. This is a consequence of the following: the association between decreased host immunity and reduced sputum smear positivity; the difficulty in excluding other HIV-related diseases when making the diagnosis of smear-negative PTB; and an increase in false-negative sputum smears because of overstretched resources. This article examines problems in the diagnosis and treatment of smear-negative PTB in high-HIV-prevalence areas in sub-Saharan Africa. The main issues in diagnosis include: the criteria used to diagnose smear-negative PTB; the degree to which clinicians actually follow these criteria in practice; and the problem of how to exclude other respiratory diseases that can resemble, and be misdiagnosed as, smear-negative PTB. The most important aspect of the treatment of smear-negative PTB patients is abandoning 12-month "standard" treatment regimens in favour of short-course chemotherapy. Operational research is necessary to determine the most cost-effective approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of smear-negative PTB. Nevertheless, substantial improvement could be obtained by implementing the effective measures already available, such as improved adherence to diagnostic and treatment guidelines. (+info)
Clinical manifestation and survival of patients with idiopathic bilateral atrial dilatation.
(5/1703)
We studied the histories of eight patients who lacked clear evidence of cardiac abnormalities other than marked bilateral atrial dilatation and atrial fibrillation, which have rarely been discussed in the literature. From the time of their first visit to our hospital, the patients' chest radiographs and electrocardiograms showed markedly enlarged cardiac silhouettes and atrial fibrillation, respectively. Each patient's echocardiogram showed a marked bilateral atrial dilatation with almost normal wall motion of both ventricles. In one patient, inflammatory change was demonstrated by cardiac catheterization and endomyocardial biopsy from the right ventricle. Seven of our eight cases were elderly women. Over a long period after the diagnosis of cardiomegaly or arrhythmia, diuretics or digitalis offered good results in the treatment of edema and congestion in these patients. In view of the clinical courses included in the present study, we conclude that this disorder has a good prognosis. (+info)
Concurrent infection with Legionella pneumophila and Pneumocystis carinii in a patient with adult T cell leukemia.
(6/1703)
A 48-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with high fever, chills, cough, and exertional dyspnea. On admission, the chest roentgenogram and computed tomography scan showed bilateral alveolar infiltration in the middle and lower lung fields. Microscopic examination of the bronchial lavage fluid showed flower cells typical for adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) and cysts of Pneumocystis carinii, and Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 grew on buffered charcoal yeast extract (BCYE)-alpha agar. The patient was successfully treated with antibiotics including trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, erythromycin, and sparfloxacin. Remission of ATL was achieved after three courses of antileukemic chemotherapy. Mixed infection of opportunistic pathogens should be considered in patients with ATL. (+info)
A resuscitated case from asphyxia by large bronchial cast.
(7/1703)
A 62-year-old woman with bronchiectasis suffered from asphyxia due to a large bronchial cast that obstructed the bronchial tree. Immediate bronchoscopic suction of a bronchial cast of 17 cm in length through the intubated tube relieved the patients without any complications. Large bronchial casts appear to be rare in this century but it should be considered in patients with acute exacerbation of excessive sputa not only in patients with asthma or allergy but also in patients with respiratory tract infection. (+info)
Clinical studies of styrene workers: initial findings.
(8/1703)
Styrene monomer is a high volume chemical used chiefly in production of polystyrene. A clinical survey of 493 production workers was undertaken at the oldest and largest monomer production, polymerization, and extrusion facility in the U.S. Relative exposure durations and levels were obtained from occupational histories. Significant differences between the high and low exposure groups were found with regard to history of acute prenarcotic symptoms, acute lower respiratory symptoms, prevalence of FEV 1/FV less than 75 per cent, and elevated GCTP. Other liver function tests, chest x-ray, FVC less than 80 per cent, and hematological parameters showed no distinct pattern. A concomitant mortality study has been mounted and is in progress. (+info)