Department of Radiology, Korea University College of Medicine, Ansan Hospital, Ansan 425-707, Korea.
Korean J Radiol. 2012 Nov-Dec;13(6):776-83. doi: 10.3348/kjr.2012.13.6.776. Epub 2012 Oct 12.
To compare between the American College of Radiology (ACR) accreditation phantom and digital mammography accreditation phantom in assessing the image quality in full-field digital mammography (FFDM).
In each week throughout the 42-week study, we obtained phantom images using both the ACR accreditation phantom and the digital mammography accreditation phantom, and a total of 42 pairs of images were included in this study. We assessed the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in each phantom image. A radiologist drew a square-shaped region of interest on the phantom and then the mean value of the SNR and the standard deviation were automatically provided on a monitor. SNR was calculated by an equation, measured mean value of SNR-constant coefficient of FFDM/standard deviation. Two breast radiologists scored visible objects (fibers, specks, and masses) with soft-copy images and calculated the visible rate (number of visible objects/total number of objects). We compared SNR and the visible rate of objects between the two phantoms and calculated the k-coefficient for interobserver agreement.
The SNR of the ACR accreditation phantom ranged from 42.0 to 52.9 (Mean, 47.3 ± 2.79) and that of Digital Phantom ranged from 24.8 to 54.0 (Mean, 44.1 ± 9.93) (p = 0.028). The visible rates of all three types of objects were much higher in the ACR accreditation phantom than those in the digital mammography accreditation phantom (p < 0.05). Interobserver agreement for visible rates of objects on phantom images was fair to moderate agreement (k-coefficients: 0.34-0.57).
The ACR accreditation phantom is superior to the digital mammography accreditation phantom in terms of SNR and visibility of phantom objects. Thus, ACR accreditation phantom appears to be satisfactory for assessing the image quality in FFDM.
比较美国放射学院(ACR)认证体模和数字乳腺摄影认证体模在全数字化乳腺摄影(FFDM)中评估图像质量的差异。
在整个 42 周研究期间的每周,我们使用 ACR 认证体模和数字乳腺摄影认证体模获得体模图像,共纳入 42 对图像。我们评估了每个体模图像的信噪比(SNR)。一位放射科医生在体模上绘制一个正方形感兴趣区,然后监视器上自动提供 SNR 的平均值和标准差。SNR 通过以下公式计算:测量 SNR 值-FFDM 标准差/常数系数。两位乳腺放射科医生使用软拷贝图像对可见物体(纤维、斑点和肿块)进行评分,并计算可见率(可见物体数量/总物体数量)。我们比较了两种体模的 SNR 和物体的可见率,并计算了观察者间一致性的 k 系数。
ACR 认证体模的 SNR 范围为 42.0 至 52.9(平均值 47.3 ± 2.79),数字体模的 SNR 范围为 24.8 至 54.0(平均值 44.1 ± 9.93)(p = 0.028)。在 ACR 认证体模中,所有三种类型物体的可见率均明显高于数字乳腺摄影认证体模(p < 0.05)。观察者间对体模图像中物体可见率的一致性为中等至良好(k 系数:0.34-0.57)。
在 SNR 和体模物体可见性方面,ACR 认证体模优于数字乳腺摄影认证体模。因此,ACR 认证体模似乎可以满足评估 FFDM 图像质量的需求。