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  • Title: Comparison of diagnostic accuracy of breast masses using digitized images versus screen-film mammography.
    Author: Liang Z, Du X, Liu J, Yao X, Yang Y, Li K.
    Journal: Acta Radiol; 2008 Jul; 49(6):618-22. PubMed ID: 18568552.
    Abstract:
    BACKGROUND: Medical film digitizers play an important transitory role as digital-analogue bridges in radiology. Digitized mammograms require evaluation of performance to assure medical image quality. PURPOSE: To compare the diagnostic accuracy in the interpretation of breast masses using original screen-film mammograms versus digitized images. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 72 female patients between 55 and 81 years of age suspected of having breast cancer were selected by two non-observing radiologists. Of these, 31 cases were benign lesions and 41 cases were cancer. The mammography films were digitized using a laser film digitizer. Three radiologists, each with more than 10 years of experience in mammography, interpreted the screen-film mammograms and digitized images respectively. The time interval was 4 weeks. A four-point malignancy scale was used, with 1 defined as definitely not malignant, 2 as probably not malignant, 3 as probably malignant, and 4 as definitely malignant. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, sensitivity, and specificity were compared. RESULTS: The average area-under-the-curve (Az) value of the original screen-film mammograms was 0.921, and the average Az value of the digitized images was 0.859. This difference was not statistically significant (P=0.131). The detection specificity of extremely dense breasts was lower than that for other breast compositions for both digitized images and screen-film mammograms. No statistical significance in sensitivity and specificity was observed between digitized images and mammograms for each breast composition. Original screen-film mammograms were observed to perform better than digitized images. CONCLUSION: Digitized images with a spatial resolution of 175 microm can be used instead of screen-film mammograms in the diagnosis of breast cancer.
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