Keywords:
Thorax, Lung, CT, Image manipulation / Reconstruction, Computer Applications-General, Radiation safety, Artifacts, Dosimetric comparison
Authors:
S. Carey1, S. Kandel1, J. Kavanagh2, T. Chung1, C. Farrell1, P. Rogalla1; 1Toronto, ON/CA, 2Toronto/CA
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2019/C-3543
Conclusion
The ROC area under the curve indicates a higher level of confidence almost across the board with a thoracic tomogram.
This was expected as a multi-slice CT offers significantly more information than CXR,
and in accordance the reading time is also increased by ~54%.
In determining whether thoracic tomograms can be a suitable replacement for CXR,
it will be prudent to assess how we value the tradeoff between confidence and interpretation time,
as well as the importance of each diagnostic category.
Fig.
6 shows a comparison of a CXR and a single slice from a thoracic tomogram.
A patient underwent a CXR and a same day standard-of-care non-contrast CT of the chest.
This case was not used in the study,
but instead is shown to demonstrate the significant diagnostic advantage of CT over CXR.
In the thoracic tomogram a lung cancer is clearly demonstrated,
while it is completely invisible in the CXR.
This case is an example of how CXR can miss significant findings and emphasizes that CT offers more diagnostic information than CXR.
We expect that the thoracic tomogram will offer greatly increased diagnostic sensitivity compared to CXR with a similar effective dose.