Purpose
Silicosis is a pneumoconiosis, commonly resulting from the occupational exposure to respirable silica dust. It continues to affect workers in global industries including construction, mining and artificial stone manufacturing [1-4]. Long latency periods associated with silicosis mean a substantial number of new cases are reported annually [5].Radiologic investigations of chest x-rays (CXR) and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) are critical for early diagnosis, screening and surveillance, with HRCT providing greater abilities than CXRs in correlating pathologic and radiologic findings [6-9]. However, due clinical overlaps and radiologic...
Methods and materials
Fifteen HRCT cases of silicosis and non-silicosis presentations were assembled into test sets. Ground truths were established by expert radiologists with B-reader certification and verified diagnostic reports. Online platforms were developed in partnership with DetectedX (Sydney, Australia) to display the test sets of high-resolution images and diagnostic questions based on the International Classification of HRCT for Occupational and Environmental Respiratory Diseases (ICOERD) (Figure 1).54 readers (33 radiologists and 21 radiology trainees) were recruited for this observer performance study, with ethical approval from our local human...
Results
Readers’ performances were evaluated based on sensitivity, specificity, and area under the reader operating characteristic curve (AUROC).Radiologists (n=33) showed a median sensitivity of 80%, specificity of 90% and AUROC value of 0.93. Radiology trainees (n=21) showed a median sensitivity of 60%, specificity of 90% and AUROC value of 0.911. No significant difference (P>0.05) was recorded within or between radiologists and radiology trainees for sensitivity, specificity and AUROC (Table 1).The Spearman’s rank coefficient between the AUROC and years of experience for radiologists was 0.113 (P=0.532), demonstrating...
Conclusion
Radiologists demonstrated good diagnostic abilities in the accurate diagnosis of silicosis, demonstrating the value of HRCT. Our results suggest that readers detected silicosis more accurately than previous studies with smaller sample sizes. Our findings also suggest that radiology trainees have the potential to gain the most learning through our online platform as they progress in their early training years, highlighting the importance of effective education.
Personal information and conflict of interest
J. Yi:
Nothing to disclose
K. A. Tapia:
Nothing to disclose
J. Robinson:
Nothing to disclose
Z. Gandomkar:
Other: Affiliated with DetectedX
P. Brennan:
Other: Affiliated with DetectedX
M. E. Suleiman:
Other: Affiliated with DetectedX
N. W. Sommerfeld:
Nothing to disclose
S. Tavakoli Taba:
Nothing to disclose
References
Kim HR, Kim B, Jo BS, Lee JW. Silica exposure and work-relatedness evaluation for occupational cancer in Korea. Ann Occup Environ Med. 2018;30:4.
Shin YC, Choi BS, Lee BK, Yi GY, Lee JT, Lee JS, Lee JO, Kim KY, Kim TG, Go KS, Chung HK. Evaluation of workers’ exposure to total dust, respirable dust, and crystalline free silica by job in Korean coal mines. J Korean Soc Occup Environ Hyg. 2002;12(3):146-54.
Cole K, Glass D, Bence T, Pisaniello D, Knott P, Rowett S, et al....