Detectability and Signal to Noise ratio of Mammographic phantoms displayed on LCD Monitors

With the spread of the digital mammography systems, imaging tools for interpreting mammograms are changing from the screen/film to the monitors. In this paper, we assess the effect of the pixel pitch of the Liquid crystal monitors on the detectability of abnormalities. The result of the visual test using mammographic phantoms showed that the 5M-monitor is necessary in the detection of the simulated calcifications, while the 3M-monitor performed equally as the 5M-monitor for detecting the simulated masses and fibrillar structures. The SNR calculated for the phantoms, which incorporate the visual characteristics, well explained the result of the visual test. Thus, it can be an index for evaluating the monitor performance.