Monthly monitoring program on DryView laser imager: one year experience on five Imation units

Dry imaging cameras

Dry imaging cameras are important hard copy devices in radiology. Using dry imaging camera, multiformat images of digital modalities in radiology are created from a sealed unit of unexposed films. The functioning of a modern dry camera, involves a blend of concurrent processes, in areas of diverse sciences like computers, mechanics, thermal, optics, electricity and radiography. Broadly, hard copy devices are classified as laser and non laser based technology. When compared with the working knowledge and technical awareness of different modalities in radiology, the understanding of a dry imaging camera is often superficial and neglected. To fill this void, this article outlines the key features of a modern dry camera and its important issues that impact radiology workflow.

Development and evaluation of a new gray-scale test pattern to adjust gradients of thoracic CT imaging

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the usefulness of a new gray-scale test pattern (NGTP) that was developed to easily adjust the gradients of thoracic CT imaging and enable visual consistency. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) pattern and the NGTP were used for comparison. The luminance character of two test patterns was evaluated by a luminance meter with three different window widths and levels (for default, mediastinum and lung). We also investigated whether SMPTE or NGTP is more suitable for adjusting the gradient of thoracic CT imaging. We found that it was easier to adjust the gradient of thoracic CT imaging with NGTP than with SMPTE, because the digital range of NGTP is 12 bits (the value of 4,096 HU, from -1,024 to 3,071 HU), and adjustable in any window width. We were able to adjust the gradients of hard-copy and soft-copy thoracic CT imaging within several hours using NGTP. We propose that NGTP is the most suitable tool for adjusting the gradients of thoracic CT imaging. NGTP can cope with any medical diagnostic display system connected with CT or MRI equipment in a network because it is in DICOM format.