TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS IN MAMMOGRAPHY OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS

During the past twenty years many significant technological improvemen ts in mammographic X-ray equipment and screen-film-processing systems have occurred. Today it is possible to obtain mammograms with higher i mage quality at a significantly lower radiation dose compared to mammo grams dating back about 20 years. In this review article, X-ray spectr a, limiting geometric resolution, characteristic (H & D) curves, modul ation transfer function (MTF) and noise power spectra (NPS) are used t o demonstrate technological improvements in mammographic screen-film i mage quality.