Previous studies comparing radiologists' behavior when reading mammograms that were 'digitized' from screen-film mammography (SFM) films and 'digital' mammograms obtained through the use of Full-Field Digital Mammography (FFDM) systems either showed a significant advantage to FFDM (mostly when a double-reading strategy was used) or no difference in performance between the two modalities (primarily when a single-reader strategy was used). The visual search characteristics used by radiologists in the reading of 'digitized' mammograms have been previously studied, but few perceptual studies have been carried out to characterize radiologists' behavior when reading 'digital' mammograms. In this paper we will compare the perceptual features related to the radiologists' reading of 'digital' mammograms with those related to the reading of 'digitized' mammograms. In addition, we will use spatial frequency analysis to characterize such a behavior and compare it to the one employed in the reading of 'digitized' mammograms.

Date Published: 27 February 2010
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 7627, Medical Imaging 2010: Image Perception, Observer Performance, and Technology Assessment, 76270D (27 February 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.844205

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7627:
Medical Imaging 2010: Image Perception, Observer Performance, and Technology Assessment
David J. Manning; Craig K. Abbey, Editor(s)