title: Imaging characteristics of different mammographic screens.
abstract: A study of mammography systems with green-emitting screens was conducted to determine how the image quality parameters (apart from dose requirement), such as modulation transfer function (MTF) and Wiener spectrum (WS), depend on the dye content of the compound and coating weight of the screen. In addition, the contribution to total noise of the individual components, i.e., film, screen, and quantum noise, was studied. The quantities derived from MTF and WS, namely detective quantum efficiency (DQE) and noise equivalent quanta (NEQ), were also investigated in regard to their dose dependency. It can be demonstrated that the MTF of the screens becomes more favorable when the dye content is increased, while noise is not significantly affected. This suggests the use of a mammography screen capable of greater detail recognition, requiring at least double the dose of today's conventional systems with approximately 80 microGy system dose. On the other hand, the manufacture of a screen with about 60% of the dose of the conventional system is possible with very little loss in image quality. For the systems in common use today (80 microGy), quantum noise represents a considerable share of the total noise at low spatial frequencies, whereas in high spatial frequencies, the graininess of the film dominates quantum noise and screen structure.
authors.affiliation: Siemens AG, Bereich Medizinische Technik, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kuhn
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Knüpfer
mesh_terms: D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D014963:X-Ray Intensifying Screens / Q000592:standards*