Fig 1.
A schematic diagram comparing the conventional (a) and new algorithms (b).
Table 1.
Evaluation criteria for chest radiographic images.
Table 2.
Summary of BMI and radiation dose information in 69 subjects.
Fig 2.
Box-whisker plots of each score of seven anatomical landmarks in all 69 patients (a) and total scores of seven anatomical landmarks in three test groups (b) according to radiation dose.
The out and far-out data are presented as circular and rectangular symbols, respectively.
Fig 3.
A pair of baseline (a) and low-dose (b) chest radiographic images in a patient with a BMI of 23.7 kg/m2 (Group C).
The radiation dose of ESE was 42.9 μGy and 21.2 μGy respectively, which was reduced to 49.4% of the baseline dose. The average total score of anatomical landmarks was 26.8 and 28.5 respectively. The image quality of the low-dose image was non-inferior and superior to that of the baseline dose image.
Table 3.
Comparison of image quality of anatomical landmarks between the baseline and low-dose images using a non-inferiority test in total, A, B, and C groups.
Fig 4.
A pair of baseline (a) and low-dose (b) chest radiographic images in a patient with a BMI of 22.8 kg/m2 (Group C).
The two chest radiographs show a well-defined, small nodule in the right upper lung zone (arrows). The average score of the nodule was 4 and 3.75 respectively, which were suggestive of good image quality. The radiation dose of ESE was 61.9 μGy and 30.2 μGy respectively, which was reduced to 48.8% of the baseline dose.
Fig 5.
A pair of baseline (a) and low-dose (b) chest radiographic images in a patient with a BMI of 25.4 kg/m2 (Group C).
The two chest radiographs show a subsegmental consolidation in a retrocardiac region of a left lower lung zone (arrows). The average score of the consolidation was 3.50 and 3.00 respectively, which were suggestive of fair image quality. The radiation dose of ESE was 54.2 μGy and 25.0 μGy respectively, which was reduced to 46.1% of the baseline dose.
Table 4.
Comparison of image quality of three representative abnormal findings between the baseline and low-dose images using a non-inferiority test.