Commentary on: Comparison of chest digital tomosynthesis and chest radiography for detection of asbestos-related pleuropulmonary disease

Our plain-English summary of Commentary on: Comparison of chest digital tomosynthesis and chest radiography for detection of asbestos-related pleuropulmonary disease, by I. Vlahos (Clinical Radiology, 2013).

The study

• Author: I. Vlahos
• Journal: Clinical Radiology
• Published: 2013;68(4):336-7
• Type of article: Comment
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This article was a short commentary, not a research study, and it reported no new data. The author wrote it to accompany a study by Lee et al. in the same journal issue. That study compared chest digital tomosynthesis (DTS), a relatively new digital chest X-ray technique, with ordinary chest radiography for detecting asbestos-related pleural plaques, calcification and interstitial disease. The commentary did not give that study's numbers or detailed comparative results. The author suggested the study could stand as a surrogate for what DTS might offer in pleural and lung imaging generally. The author also noted drawbacks: the cost of extra equipment and a slight increase in radiation dose, described as possibly one to two times that of a conventional chest radiograph. Citing other published work about lung nodules in general, not asbestos disease, the author noted that DTS had shown nearly 90% of CT-detectable lung nodules larger than 4 mm, compared with under 30% for conventional chest radiographs. The author concluded that whether DTS or other digital chest techniques are a worthwhile innovation would likely take some time to establish.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Commentary (editorial-style opinion piece) on another study (Lee et al.); no original data
• Who was studied: None studied in this article; the commentary does not describe the population of the Lee et al. study
• Exposure: Not an exposure study; the commentary concerns imaging (chest digital tomosynthesis vs chest radiography) for asbestos-related pleural plaques, calcification and interstitial disease, as evaluated by Lee et al.
• Main results:
  • The author's view (not a finding) was that the Lee et al. analysis acts as a surrogate for the improved detection, characterization and interobserver agreement DTS may offer in pleural or pulmonary imaging in general
  • The author noted possible disadvantages of DTS: cost of additional hardware and a slight increase in patient radiation dose
  • The author stated, citing other publications, that the additional dose may be one to two times that of a conventional PA chest radiograph
  • Citing other studies on lung nodules generally (not asbestos disease), the author reported that DTS showed near 90% of CT-detectable pulmonary nodules larger than 4 mm, compared with less than 30% for conventional chest radiographs
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that whether DTS or other digital chest techniques are a worthwhile innovation will likely take some time to establish

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Asbestosis.

Related studies

• Comparison of chest digital tomosynthesis and chest radiography for detection of asbestos-related pleuropulmonary disease — G. Lee, Y.J. Jeong, et al. (2013)
• Digital tomosynthesis of the chest: current and emerging applications — S.H. Chou, G.A. Kicska, et al. (2014)
• Asbestos-related pleural disease and asbestosis: a comparison of CT and chest radiography — A.C. Friedman, S.B. Fiel, et al. (1988)
• Comparison of digital with film radiographs for the classification of pneumoconiotic pleural abnormalities — T.C. Larson, D.B. Holiday, et al. (2012)
• Improved detection of asbestos-related pleural plaques with digital radiography — R. Greene, C.M. Schaefer, et al. (1991)
• Screening for asbestos-related pleural disease with digital storage phosphor radiography — C.M. Schaefer, R. Greene, et al. (1990)

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