<title>ROC comparison between digital mammography and screen-film using an anthropomorphic breast phantom</title>

Abstract

Mass lesion detection performance of a LoRAD Digital Spot Mammography (DSM) system was compared with a Kodak Min R screen-film combination exposed either in front of the DSM, or in the Bucky of a GE 600T mammography unit. Low-contrast objects simulating small masses were superimposed on an RMI 165 anthropomorphic breast phantom and radiographs obtained at 28 kVp and an mAs value, which resulted in a mean film density of approximately 1.1. DSM images were obtained at the same radiation exposure as used with screen-film. Fully masked radiographs were viewed on a mammography light box, and the DSM images were viewed on the DSM monitor in a darkened room. Of the 64 regions of interest (ROI) in each type of image, 28 (44%) contained the test object. For each imaging modality, six radiologists and six scientists assessed the probability of a simulated mass being present in each ROI. The resultant data were used to plot receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of twelve readers for each of the three imaging modalities investigated. There was no significant difference in reader performance between the screen-film combination exposed in front of the DSM system and exposed in the GE 600T system. Both screen-film imaging systems resulted in the same average area under the ROC curve, A<SUB>z</SUB>, of 0.78. At the same level of radiation exposure, the DSM had an average ROC area, A<SUB>z</SUB>, of 0.71 which was significantly inferior to the average performance achieved using screen-film (p less than 0.005). For this detection task, there were no significant differences in performance between the radiologists and scientists. Reader performance was found to improve with the number of images read, demonstrating an observer learning curve for this specific detection task.