Threshold pixel size for shape determination of microcalcifications in digital mammography: a pilot study.

Mark Ruschin, Bengt Hemdal, Ingvar Andersson, S Börjesson, M Håkansson, M Båth, Anna Grahn, Anders Tingberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The effect of pixel size on shape determination in screening digital mammography systems was studied using a shape identification task as the measured outcome. Ten microcalcifications on screen-films were digitised to a range of pixel sizes (2.5-200 μm) and extracted from computed radiography (CR) images (50 μm) acquired under equivalent imaging conditions. Fifteen observers attempted to identify the shape of each microcalcification at each pixel size. The results were collated to provide a fraction of correct responses vs. pixel size curve for each microcalcification. Averaging over all shapes, pixel values > 100 μm lead to a significant decrease in shape determination ability (p < 0.01) for digitised screen-film. For CR images, half the shapes were not properly identified. Hence, although 20-100 μm was sufficient for microcalcification shape determination for digitised screen-film images, 50 μm was only borderline sufficient for the CR digital images
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)415-423
JournalRadiation Protection Dosimetry
Volume114
Issue number1-3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2005
EventSecond Malmo Conference on Medical X-Ray Imaging - Malmo, Sweden
Duration: 2004 Apr 25 → …

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging

Free keywords

  • computed radiography
  • 2.5 to 200 micron
  • digitised screen-film
  • shape identification
  • digital mammography
  • microcalcification
  • shape determination
  • threshold pixel size

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