CHICAGO - A study presented as part of today’s physics scientific sessions at the RSNA conference explored the sensitive subject of age-related deterioration in visual acuity of radiologists, and found that a better-designed film viewer could improve visualization among radiologists of all ages.
The study, presented by Dr. Robert Eisenberg of Highland General Hospital in Oakland, CA, tested the visual acuity of more than 1,000 radiologists aged 30-45 with a phantom containing a matrix of simulated lesions that gradually decreased in size and contrast. The study compared visualization on a conventional unmasked light box with a digital film viewer system manufactured by SmartLight of Hackensack, NJ. The viewer was designed to optimize film-viewing conditions by adjusting the intensity of the light according to the film density, and by automatically masking the film with a dark blue mask that inhibits pupil dilation and reduces ambient light.
"The data show that as we age, our lesion detectability goes down," Eisenberg said. We become more and more vulnerable to glare and other light-box problems."
The study found that radiologists’ ability to detect the lesions on a conventional film viewer decreased 27% between ages 30 and 45. However, the ability to detect the phantom lesions improved for both age groups, from 35%-45% when using the digital film viewer. On average, 45-year-old radiologists using the digital viewer detected the phantoms 29% better than 30-year-olds using a conventional viewer.
"The digital film viewer mitigates this age-related degradation in film detectability compared with both conventional and masked view boxes," Eisenberg said.
By Eric BarnesAuntMinnie.com staff writer
December 2, 1999
