1. Viewing the Digital Image
Bushong Ch. 29

2. Hard Copy vs Soft Copy

3. Photometry The science of the response of the human eye to light
The basic unit of photometry is the lumen (lm).

4. Illuminance describes the intensity of light incident on a surface
Luminance intensity is a property of the source of light, such as a viewbox or a digital
display device

5. Monitors Cathode ray tube (CRT) Liquid crystal display (LCD)
Plasma screen

6. Soft copy viewing digital cathode ray tube (CRT)

7. active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD)

8. Active matrix liquid crystal displays are superior to cathode ray tube displays.
LCD design – gives out more light,
reduces ambient light
Better contrast resolution
Less noise
Less maintenance

9. Crystals can be aligned by an external electric field

10. Plasma Display
The plasma displays are made up of many small fluorescent lights that are illuminated to form the color of the image.

11. Pixel
A pixel is an individual controllable set of dot triads. A dot triad is a grouping of one red dot, one green dot, and one blue dot. The number of pixels on a display is known as its resolution.

12. Resolution
The more pixels in an image, the higher the resolution of the image and the more information that can be displayed.

13. Pixels are arranged in a matrix

14. Dot pitch
Dot pitch is the measurement of how close the dots are located to one another within a pixel

15. Spatial Resolution
improves with the use of higher-megapixel digital display devices
A 1-megapixel display will have a 1000×1000-pixel arrangement. A high-resolution monitor will have a 5-megapixel display, or a 2000×2500-pixel arrangement

16. Refresh rate
The refresh rate is the measure of how fast the monitor rewrites the screen or the number of times that the image is redrawn on the display each second. The refresh rate helps to control the flicker seen by the user; the higher the refresh rate, the less flicker.

17. Viewable area
The viewable area is measured diagonally from one corner of the display to the opposite corner.

18. Cosine Law
Is important when one is describing the luminous intensity of a digital display device. When a monitor is viewed straight on, the luminous intensity is maximum. When a monitor is viewed from an angle, the contrast and the luminous intensity are reduced.

19. When a digital display device is viewed from the side, illumination and image contrast are reduced.

20. LCD Disadvantage
The principal disadvantage of an AMLCD is the angular dependence of viewing
Ergonomic design of digital workstations is critical

23. Transmission of Images
PACS - Picture Archiving & Communications System
DICOM - Digital Images & Communication in Medicine
TELERADIOGRAPHY -Remote Transmission of Images

24. PACS Internet VPN Digital Images Archive Remote Facilities Database
and Workflow Engine
Internet VPN
Workflow of a PACS system.
Picture is taken.
Picture is sent to Database/Workflow engine and then either to a local viewing station (for current diagnosis), to an archive for future retrieval, or
via an Internet Virtual Private Network (VPN) to offsite storage or to a remote viewing station.
Workstations
Remote Workstations

25. PACS/HIS/RIS/X-ray System
HIS = Hospital information system
RIS = Radiology information system
X-ray machine patient folder

26. Archive Servers
An archive server
is the file room of
the PACS

27. PACS Common Functions
Navigation functions are used to move through images, studies, and patients.
The worklist is used to navigate through patients. Most worklists are customizable for the user. One doctor or technologist may want to see only CT studies or all neurologic studies done that day regardless of the modality.
Most modern PACS software conforms to the Windows look and feel.

28. Questions?
"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Winston Churchill