EVALUATION OF MAMMOGRAPHY IMAGE QUALITY PHANTOMS

A strategy for the quantitative evaluation of mammography image qualit y phantoms is described and illustrated by the evaluation of a new des ign of phantom, the TOR(MAM). The performance criteria assessed were s ensitivity and measurement uncertainty. Sensitivity was assessed as th e response of the image quality (IQ) score to changes in kV, scatter t hickness below the phantom, and by use with a range of clinical system s. The measurement uncertainty was measured as the inter- and intra-ob server errors from repeated measurements on 12 mammography systems by 5 observers. The IQ score was found to be very sensitive to changes in image quality but had large observer errors.