New cephalometric images with a workstation: A preliminary report

Abstract Objective. This study was designed to test the feasibility of several types of enhancements for cephalometric computed radiographs through use of the Fuji Computed Radiography system (Fuji Photo Film Corp., Tokyo, Japan). Study Design. The material consisted of four lateral cephalograms made with the Fuji Computed Radiography system that were enhanced by varying the gradient levels before processing, by means of both A-type (straight gradation) curves and workstation-type (peaked) curves. The four workstation-type images were set with optical densities at the peak of the curve at 1.5, 1.7, 1.9, and 2.1. Ten observers evaluated eight anatomic landmarks comparing pairs of workstation-type images. The best workstation-type image was then compared with the A-type image for the same landmarks. Results. For the four workstation-type images the best visualization of the anatomic landmarks was seen with workstation-type image 3, which had a maximum optical density of 1.9. Image 3 was also superior to the results of A-type image processing for most of the landmarks. Conclusion. Image enhancement with the application of a computed radiography system is effective for study of lateral cephalograms.