title: LATIN AMERICAN IMAGE QUALITY SURVEY IN DIGITAL MAMMOGRAPHY STUDIES.
abstract: Under International Atomic Energy Agency regional programme TSA3 Radiological Protection of Patients in Medical Exposures, Latin American countries evaluated the image quality and glandular doses for digital mammography equipment with the purpose of seeing the performance and compliance with international recommendations. Totally, 24 institutions participated from Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay and Venezuela. Signal difference noise ratio results showed for CR poor compliance with tolerances; better results were obtained for full-field digital mammography equipment. Mean glandular dose results showed that the majority of units have values below the acceptable dose levels. This joint Latin American project identified common problems: difficulty in working with digital images and lack of specific training by medical physicists from the region. Image quality is a main issue not being satisfied in accordance with international recommendations; optimisation processes in which the doses are increased should be very carefully done in order to improve early detection of any cancer signs.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Atómicas, Nucleares y Moleculares, University of Costa Rica, San Pedro, San José, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Khoury
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Diagnóstico por Imagem, Universidade Federal de São Paulo/UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bitelli
authors.affiliation: Hospital Oncológico 'Dr. Luis Razetti', Caracas, Venezuela.
authors.forename: Ana Rosa
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Quintero
authors.affiliation: Unidad Reguladora de Radiaciones Ionizantes, Ministerio de Salud, San Salvador, El Salvador.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Garay
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares, México DF, México.
authors.forename: Juan García
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Aguilar
authors.affiliation: Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social, Asunción, Paraguay.
authors.forename: Mirtha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gamarra
authors.affiliation: Radiological Sciences Center, Health Sciences Faculty, Tarapaca University, Arica, Chile.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ubeda
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D002677:Chile; D003364:Costa Rica; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography; D008800:Mexico; D000069079:Radiation Exposure; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires