Development of synthetic static images derived from dynamic chest radiography as substitutes for conventional chest radiographs

Introduction

Dynamic chest radiography (DCR) is a recently emerging radiographic technique that uses a series of low-dose sequential chest radiographs to evaluate lung perfusion and ventilation. However, each image may be of insufficient quality to evaluate chest abnormalities as in conventional chest radiography. We aimed to develop a high-quality synthetic static image (SSI), which was generated from a series of DCR images and compared with the original DCR images and chest radiographs.

Methods

Forty healthy volunteers underwent chest radiography and DCR consecutively. SSIs were generated from the DCR images using super-resolution technology. The image quality of the 40 original DCR images, 40 chest radiographs, and 40 SSIs was compared in random order by three chest radiologists who were blinded to the volunteer data using a visual grading analysis (VGA) 5-point-score (5 criteria, score 1–5).

Results

The total VGA scores in DCRs, chest radiographs, and SSIs were 4.05 ± 0.82, 4.65 ± 0.52, and 4.78 ± 0.43, respectively. All differences among the three groups were statistically significant. Specifically, the VGA scores of the SSIs and chest radiographs were significantly higher than those of the DCR images for all criteria. Notably, the VGA score of the SSIs was significantly higher than that of the chest radiographs, except for criteria 4.

Conclusion

Original DCR images have lower image quality than chest radiographs. SSI technology significantly improves the image quality of DCR, which is comparable to or higher than that of chest radiography.

Implications for practice

Although DCR has lower image quality compared to CR, SSI matches CR quality and can replace it, eliminating the need for additional CR imaging and reducing patient radiation exposure.