The development of a free radiological anatomy software teaching tool

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to develop a free radiological anatomy software for radiologic anatomy education to assist students and professionals in health science. The study was divided into two phases: image acquisition and software development. The first phase was to obtain plain radiographic images and computed tomographic (CT) scans of an anthropomorphic phantom of head and neck. In addition, plain radiographic images of an anthropomorphic phantom of the chest were obtained. The second phase was the development of the anatomy software as an ImageJ macro. The software was developed through the insertion of the radiologic anatomy landmarks into the images that were obtained and application of multiple choice questions. The software was then tested for usability by getting the professors to answer the multiple choice questions. The software presented radiologic anatomy from 1) Head projections: Waters view, Towne view, Caldwell view, Lateral view, Submentovertex, PA view; 2) Thoracic Spine projections: AP and Lateral View and 3) Chest: PA view, Lateral and Oblique. Tomographic imaging presented one hundred radiologic landmarks of head. In total, there were 354 questions. A final report containing the score of correct answers, as well as the user ID, Date and Time of the test were showed. The test were available in three languages (Spanish, English and Portuguese). A user-friendly and inexpensive software was developed and presented. Students and professionals from several countries are able to practice, repeatedly, the recognition of radiologic anatomical landmarks.