Abstract:
A subtraction processing method for radiation images comprises the steps of obtaining a masked image signal by reading out a masked image of an object recorded without injection of contrast media into a specific structure of the object, and obtaining a live image signal by reading out a live image recorded after contrast media have been injected into the specific structure of the object. The parts of the masked image signal and the live image signal corresponding to the same picture elements in the masked and live images are subtracted, thereby obtaining a difference signal for forming an image of the specific structure. In cases where different read-out conditions are used when obtaining the masked image signal and the live image signal, one of the masked image signal or the live image signal is converted into the image signal which would have been obtained if the same read-out conditions had been used for both images. Subtraction processing is then carried out after one of the image signals has been converted.