Image analysis of chest radiographs. Final report

The report demonstrates the feasibility of using a computer for automated interpretation of chest radiographs for pneumoconiosis. The primary goal of this project was to continue testing and evaluating the prototype system with a larger set of films. After review of the final contract report and a review of the current literature, it was clear that several modifications to the prototype system were needed before the project could continue. These modifications can be divided into two general areas. The first area was in improving the stability of the system and compensating for the diversity of film quality which exists in films obtained in a surveillance program. Since the system was to be tested with a large number of films, it was impractical to be extremely selective of film quality. The second area is in terms of processing time. With a large set of films, total processing time becomes much more significant. An image display was added to the system so that the computer determined lung boundaries could be verified for each film. A film handling system was also added, enabling the system to scan films continuously without attendance