Storage phosphor radiography in the detection of trabecular bone lesions

The detection of trabecular bone lesions is a critical imaging task in skeletal radiography. The authors of this paper document the equivalence of digital storage phosphor radiography (SR) to film-screen radiography (FR) and to evaluate the impact of unsharp mask filtering for this type of lesion. FR images (G-film/Lanex medium screen, Kodak) were compared with isodose SR images (2K x 2K x 10 bit) presented in one unfiltered and five-edge-enhanced modes in the detection of 50 simulated trabecular defects (3- 10-mm diameter) in 100 excised femoral segments (heads or condyles). Three modes enhanced high, medium, and low spatial frequencies (kernal length, 1.5, 5, and 15 mm) with a constant enhancement factor of 4. For the two remaining modes, the enhancement factors (kernel length, 15 mm) were reduced to 0.5 and 1.5. Receiver operating characteristics analysis was performed on 5,600 observations by seven readers