title: Subjective evaluation of image quality based on images obtained with a breast tissue phantom: comparison with a conventional image quality phantom.
abstract: A breast tissue phantom was used for assessment of mammographic image quality. Three images, exposed to give a reference area film density of 1.25 +/- 0.03, were obtained for each of five different film/kV combinations. Each of three radiologists carried out a series of three blind readings, in which the 15 films were ranked according to sharpness and contrast. In a similar experiment with a conventional image quality phantom, scores for the visualization of simulated calcifications and contrast-detail performance, and measures for resolution and contrast were obtained. In both experiments, the judgements of the readers were highly consistent, and both the intraobserver and interobserver variabilities were non-significant. No significant differences between the film/kV combinations were found with respect to high-contrast resolution and visualization of the simulated calcifications. The contrast measures obtained with the conventional phantom correlated well with the contrast scores obtained with the breast tissue phantom. The contrast-detail scores obtained with the conventional phantom showed no correlation with the scores obtained with the breast tissue phantom, nor with the contrast measures obtained with the conventional phantom.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics and Technology, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Montebello, Oslo.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Sager
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology; D001941:Breast Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000592:standards*; D008961:Models, Structural; D015588:Observer Variation; D011786:Quality Control