Evaluating clinical implications of 15-mega-sub-pixel liquid-crystal display in phase-contrast mammography.

Background: Phase-contrast mammography (PCM) systems characteristically yield sharp images with edge enhancement and high-resolution 25-μm/pixel mammograms. However, not all PCM image information can be shown on the display at a resolution of 5-megapixel (5-MP), although 5-MP monitors are recommended for interpretation of digital mammograms. Therefore, we investigated the potential utility of a 15-mega-sub-pixel (15-MsP) display for PCM images.

Methods: We used a monitor that offered both 5-MP and 15-MsP displays by using a sub-pixel drive (SPD) technique to increase the spatial resolution of the monitor by threefold in the direction of the sub-pixels. Contrast-detail mammography phantom images were evaluated visually by four radiologic technologists. In this study, four display magnification ratios were used and the calculated image quality figures (IQFs) were compared with those of a 5-MP display.

Results: The detection capability of the 15-MsP display was significantly better than that of the 5-MP display at magnification ratios of 49 and 100 %. At other magnification ratios, the detection capability of the 15-MsP display was higher than that of the 5-MP display, but the difference was not significant.

Conclusions: A 15-MsP display has the potential to provide better detection than that provided by conventional 5-MP displays. A 15-MsP display using SPD technology is suitable for high-resolution digital mammograms, such as those produced by PCM systems.