VIEWDEX: an efficient and easy-to-use software for observer performance studies

Abstract

The development of investigation techniques, image processing, workstation monitors, analysing tools etc. within the field of radiology is vast, and the need for efficient tools in the evaluation and optimisation process of image and investigation quality is important. ViewDEX (Viewer for Digital Evaluation of X-ray images) is an image viewer and task manager suitable for research and optimisation tasks in medical imaging. ViewDEX is DICOM compatible and the features of the interface (tasks, image handling and functionality) are general and flexible. The configuration of a study and output (for example, answers given) can be edited in any text editor. ViewDEX is developed in Java and can run from any disc area connected to a computer. It is free to use for non-commercial purposes and can be downloaded from http://www.vgregion.se/sas/viewdex. In the present work, an evaluation of the efficiency of ViewDEX for receiver operating characteristic (ROC) studies, free-response ROC (FROC) studies and visual grading (VG) studies was conducted. For VG studies, the total scoring rate was dependent on the number of criteria per case. A scoring rate of ∼150 cases h⁻¹ can be expected for a typical VG study using single images and five anatomical criteria. For ROC and FROC studies using clinical images, the scoring rate was ∼100 cases h⁻¹ using single images and ∼25 cases h⁻¹ using image stacks (∼50 images case⁻¹). In conclusion, ViewDEX is an efficient and easy-to-use software for observer performance studies.