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Until recently, the specifications of medical grade monochrome LCD monitors outperformed those of color LCD monitors. New
generations of color LCD monitors, however, show specifications that are in many respects similar to those of monochrome monitors
typically used in diagnostic workstations. The aim of present study was to evaluate the impact of different medical grade monitors in
terms of detection of simulated lung nodules in chest x-ray images. Specifically, we wanted to compare a new medical grade color
monitor (Barco Coronis 6MP color) to a medical grade grayscale monitor (Barco Coronis 3MP monochrome) and a consumer color
monitor (Philips 200VW 1.7MP color) by means of an observer performance experiment. Using the free-response acquisition data
paradigm, seven radiologists were asked to detect and locate lung nodules (170 in total), simulated in half of the 200 chest X-ray
images used in the experiment. The jackknife free-response receiver operating characteristic (JAFROC) analysis of the data showed a
statistically significant difference between at least two monitors, F-value=3.77 and p-value =0.0481. The different Figure of Merit
values were 0.727, 0.723 and 0.697 for the new color LCD monitor, the medical grade monitor and the consumer color monitor
respectively. There was no difference between the needed reading times but there was a difference between the mean calculated
Euclidian distances between the position marked by the observers and the center of the simulated nodule, indicating a better accuracy
with both medical grade monitors. Present data suggests that the new generation of medical grade color monitors could be used as
diagnostic workstations.
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