| The purposes of this study were to evaluate the clinical usefulness of dual-energy subtraction images in chest radiography and to throw light on the way of integrating high-grade image processing with clinical diagnosis. Among 221 clinical cases to which this method was applied, its clinical usefulness was detected in 41 cases(18.6%). Soft tissue images facilitated nodule detection in 11 cases. Detection of the nodule on the CR image was not possible in 2 of these 11 cases. The bone image was also useful in 8 cases, because of the detection of benign patterns of calcification. Considering the role of chest radiography as a method of screening in chest imaging diagnosis, support such as the prevention of missing lung nodules and the suggestion of unnecessary further examinations seemed extremely important. Because the dual-energy subtraction method provided such support, it was clinically evaluated as a useful high-grade image processing technique that is expected to be of even further benefit following technological improvements. |
