title: Computerized quantitative evaluation of mammographic accreditation phantom images.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective was to develop and investigate an automated scoring scheme of the American College of Radiology (ACR) mammographic accreditation phantom (RMI 156, Middleton, WI) images.
  
  
  METHODS
  The developed method consisted of background subtraction, determination of region of interest, classification of fiber and mass objects by Mahalanobis distance, detection of specks by template matching, and rule-based scoring. Fifty-one phantom images were collected from 51 facilities for this study (one facility provided one image). A medical physicist and two radiologic technologists also scored the images. The human and computerized scores were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In terms of meeting the ACR's criteria, the accuracies of the developed method for computerized evaluation of fiber, mass, and speck were 90%, 80%, and 98%, respectively. Contingency table analysis revealed significant association between observer and computer scores for microcalcifications (p<5%) but not for masses and fibers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The developed method may achieve a stable assessment of visibility for test objects in mammographic accreditation phantom image in whether the phantom image meets the ACR's criteria in the evaluation test, although there is room left for improvement in the approach for fiber and mass objects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiological Technology, School of Health Sciences, Niigata University, 2-746 Asahimachidori, Chuouku, Niigata 951-8518, Japan. lee@clg.niigata-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yongbum
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Du-Yih
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Norimitsu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shinohara
mesh_terms: D001331:Automation; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008327:Mammography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging