Evaluation of the injured cervical spine: comparison of conventional and storage phosphor radiography with a hybrid cassette.

Abstract

To compare conventional and storage phosphor radiography of the injured cervical spine. Sixty-five patients underwent imaging in a supine position while wearing a cervical collar. Matched storage phosphor and conventional lateral cervical spine radiographs were obtained with an 18 x 24-cm hybrid cassette. Edge-enhanced and nonenhanced copies of each computed radiograph were printed on film, and the images were sent via a computer network to a remote imaging workstation. Four radiologists read the conventional radiographs, the two hard-copy computed radiographs, and the soft-copy images and used a binary scale to score the visibility of bone and soft-tissue structures. All readers scored better in all areas with computed radiographs, and a statistically significant (P = .030) improvement in performance was seen for soft-tissue structures. Storage phosphor imaging offers advantages over conventional radiography, and digital images may be a viable alternative to film.