Consistent Rendering for Comparison of Multiple Radiographs in an Intensive Care Unit

Sheng Chen ； Pei Wang

《Journal of Medical and Biological Engineering》 29卷5期 (2009/10) Pp. 260-265

並列摘要

Portable chest radiography, in which a succession of portable images is taken over a time interval to monitor the progress of a patient’s condition, is commonly used in intensive care units (ICU). To obtain routine chest radiographs on a consistent basis, clinicians need to detect subtle pathological changes from one image to the next. We propose a consistent rendering method that reduces the variability in image appearance and enhances the diagnostic qualities of images of the same patient taken at different times. This method also helps clinicians compare the images and track patient progress by employing a lookup table (LUT) that remaps the code values based on a region of interest (ROT). h our technique, the ROT is automatically located, and it contains the tissue regions that are critical for clinicians to make a correct diagnosis. During the LUT construction, the active rate is also considered to enhance the details in the image. We evaluated 19 patients to compare the overall consistency in the image and the lung areas as well as the ability to detect changes in patients' conditions in accordance with the radiologist's diagnosis. From our experiments, we concluded that the proposed rendering method could provide routine chest radiographs on a more consistent basis for better diagnosis.

並列關鍵字

Portable computer radiology ； Multiple radiographs ； Consistent rendering ； Region of interest ROT ； Look up table LUT ； Active rate