A chest radiograph acquired on a 72-year-old patient with substernal pain demonstrates low contrast. What post-processing technique might be used to increase the contrast?

In the context of radiographic imaging, low contrast in an image indicates that there is less differentiation between the various shades of gray, which can make it challenging to identify structures and conditions. To enhance contrast on a chest radiograph, adjusting the window width is a common approach.

Decreasing the window width narrows the range of grayscale values displayed, effectively emphasizing the differences between lighter and darker areas within the image. This adjustment enhances the visibility of features that may be obscured by low contrast, making pathology more discernible. It allows the radiologist to view subtle details more clearly, which is particularly important in chest imaging where critical structures like the heart, lungs, and surrounding tissues must be accurately assessed.

Other methods like changing exposure settings might improve image acquisition but do not directly adjust the visual characteristics of an already captured image. Image magnification can enhance the view of specific areas but does not fundamentally change the contrast between different tissues. Thus, decreasing the window width is the most appropriate post-processing technique for increasing the contrast in this scenario.