The relationship between subjective judgments of image quality for the performance of specific detection tasks and radiologists' confidence level in arriving at correct diagnoses was investigated in two studies in which 12 readers, using a total of three different display environments, interpreted a series of 300 PA chest images. The modalities used were conventional films, laser-printed films, and high-resolution CRT display of digitized images. For the detection of interstitial disease, nodules, and pneumothoraces, there was no statistically significant correlation (Spearman rho) between subjective ratings of quality and radiologists' confidence in detecting these abnormalities. However, in each study, for all modalities and all readers but one, a small but statistically significant correlation was found between the radiologists' ability to correctly and confidently rule out interstitial disease and their subjective ratings of image quality.

Date Published: 1 July 1991
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 1446, Medical Imaging V: PACS Design and Evaluation, (1 July 1991); doi: 10.1117/12.45281

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1446:
Medical Imaging V: PACS Design and Evaluation