Technologists usually perform quality assurance (QA) at the acquisition workstation, using lower-resolution color monitors compared with the grayscale higher-resolution monitors found on diagnostic workstations. At St. Elizabeth Healthcare of Northern Kentucky, some computed radiography (CR) images seemed adequate on the technologist workstation but not on a diagnostic workstation.
Regina Shirley and colleagues collected 100 CR exams over a five-day period. All images were acquired on a single system by two technologists and reviewed by three radiology technologists twice. The first viewing was on a grayscale 1536 x 2048 monitor (3220D, Barco) and the other was on a 1920 x 1080 color monitor (LA2206x, Hewlett-Packard).
The reviewers graded the images on a three-point scale. Factors reviewed were mottle, motion, density, and contrast.
The average quality score on the technologists' workstation was significantly higher than for the diagnostic workstation system, according to the researchers. Monitor effect was constant across the three reviewers, and intraclass agreement was significantly higher with the diagnostic workstation.
The researchers found a statistically significant difference for technologists' QA scores for the quality of CR images when they were viewed on a color monitor versus the grayscale diagnostic monitors, Shirley and colleagues concluded. Also, precision was higher with the grayscale system.
