Threshold contrast visibility of micro calcifications in digital mammography

The purpose of this study is to describe a method that allows the calculation of a contrast-detail curve for a particular system configuration using simulated micro calcifications into clinical mammograms. We made use of simulated templates of micro calcifications and adjusted their x-ray transmission coefficients and resolution to the properties of the mammographic system under consideration (4). We expressed the thickness of the simulated micro calcifications in terms of Al equivalence. In a first step we validated that the thickness of very small Al particles with well known size and thickness can be calculated from their x-ray transmission characteristics at a particular X-ray beam energy. Then, micro calcifications with equivalent diameters in the plane of the detector ranging from 300 to 800 mum and thicknesses, expressed in Al equivalent, covering 77 to 800 mum were simulated into the raw data of real clinical images. The procedure was tested on 2 system configurations: the GE Senographe 2000 D and the Se based Agfa Embrace DM1000 system. We adapted the X-ray transmissions and spatial characteristics of the simulated micro calcifications such that the same physical micro calcification could be simulated into images with the specific exposure parameters (Senographe 2000D: 28 kVp-Rh/Rh, Embrace DM1000: 28 kVp-Mo/Rh), compressed breast thickness (42+/-5mm) and detector under consideration. After processing and printing, 3 observers scored the visibility of the micro calcifications. We derived contrast-detail curves. This psychophysical method allows to summarize the performance of a digital mammography detector including processing and visualization.