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Simulation of nodule-like pathology in radiographs of the lumbar spine

Herrmann, C. ; Tingberg, Anders LU ; Besjakov, Jack LU and Rodenacker, K. (2000) In Radiation Protection Dosimetry 90(1-2). p.113-116
Abstract
For the evaluation of the imaging properties of medical radiographic systems there are well-established standards for measuring techniques available, e.g. ISO 9236 for the measurement of the H/D curve. However, such measuring techniques require sophisticated equipment which is not available in a clinical environment. For a clinical routine of image evaluation, techniques like contrast-detail diagrams or the visual inspection of radiographs of grid pattern with varying contrast and spatial resolution are very common. The disadvantage of these techniques is that the corresponding results are very hard to be transferred to real patient images. Therefore, observer studies on the detection of certain pathology are commonly used to e.g.... (More)
For the evaluation of the imaging properties of medical radiographic systems there are well-established standards for measuring techniques available, e.g. ISO 9236 for the measurement of the H/D curve. However, such measuring techniques require sophisticated equipment which is not available in a clinical environment. For a clinical routine of image evaluation, techniques like contrast-detail diagrams or the visual inspection of radiographs of grid pattern with varying contrast and spatial resolution are very common. The disadvantage of these techniques is that the corresponding results are very hard to be transferred to real patient images. Therefore, observer studies on the detection of certain pathology are commonly used to e.g. investigate the influence of different radiographic techniques on diagnostic image quality. As it is very difficult to find a sufficient number of patients with real pathologies for such studies, the pathologies are often simulated by fixing e.g. aluminium disks or other nodule-like objects to healthy volunteers when the radiograph is produced. This approach is relatively simple and rather successful in chest imaging. For lumbar spine images, however, the situation is different because nodule-like tumours cannot only consist of bony material which is increasing the X-ray absorption, but tumours can also destroy the bone material resulting in an increased transparency of the corresponding anatomical region. Such a behaviour is extremely hard to be simulated by fixing an external object to the patient. However, it can be easily simulated in a computer and applied to digital radiographic data. The current paper presents a computer model for the simulation of nodules in lumbar spine images. The model has been applied within a CEC founded research project, which was investigating the influence of MTF and noise power spectra on the diagnostic quality of radiographs of the lumbar spine. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Radiation Protection Dosimetry
volume
90
issue
1-2
pages
113 - 116
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • wos:000089186500019
  • scopus:0033822883
ISSN
1742-3406
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8e587d5b-b206-4497-939e-8f7dfd7531d0 (old id 1296915)
alternative location
http://rpd.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/90/1-2/113
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 16:22:26
date last changed
2022-01-28 19:17:40
@article{8e587d5b-b206-4497-939e-8f7dfd7531d0,
  abstract     = {{For the evaluation of the imaging properties of medical radiographic systems there are well-established standards for measuring techniques available, e.g. ISO 9236 for the measurement of the H/D curve. However, such measuring techniques require sophisticated equipment which is not available in a clinical environment. For a clinical routine of image evaluation, techniques like contrast-detail diagrams or the visual inspection of radiographs of grid pattern with varying contrast and spatial resolution are very common. The disadvantage of these techniques is that the corresponding results are very hard to be transferred to real patient images. Therefore, observer studies on the detection of certain pathology are commonly used to e.g. investigate the influence of different radiographic techniques on diagnostic image quality. As it is very difficult to find a sufficient number of patients with real pathologies for such studies, the pathologies are often simulated by fixing e.g. aluminium disks or other nodule-like objects to healthy volunteers when the radiograph is produced. This approach is relatively simple and rather successful in chest imaging. For lumbar spine images, however, the situation is different because nodule-like tumours cannot only consist of bony material which is increasing the X-ray absorption, but tumours can also destroy the bone material resulting in an increased transparency of the corresponding anatomical region. Such a behaviour is extremely hard to be simulated by fixing an external object to the patient. However, it can be easily simulated in a computer and applied to digital radiographic data. The current paper presents a computer model for the simulation of nodules in lumbar spine images. The model has been applied within a CEC founded research project, which was investigating the influence of MTF and noise power spectra on the diagnostic quality of radiographs of the lumbar spine.}},
  author       = {{Herrmann, C. and Tingberg, Anders and Besjakov, Jack and Rodenacker, K.}},
  issn         = {{1742-3406}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1-2}},
  pages        = {{113--116}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Radiation Protection Dosimetry}},
  title        = {{Simulation of nodule-like pathology in radiographs of the lumbar spine}},
  url          = {{http://rpd.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/90/1-2/113}},
  volume       = {{90}},
  year         = {{2000}},
}