LESION DETECTABILITY CONSIDERATIONS FOR AN OPTICALLY-COUPLED CCD X-RAY-IMAGING SYSTEM

This project was aimed at investigating the lesion detectability of an optically-coupled CCD x-ray imaging system. The quasi-ideal observer signal-to-noise ratio (also called lesion-matched filter signal-to-noi se ratio) was calculated for various clinical applications. This analy sis differs from that of previous investigations in that we have analy zed jointly the effect of quantum noise and additive noise; we have al so analyzed the combined effect of the contrast transfer property and the resolving power of the system. Numerical calculations were perform ed to determine lesion detectability and contrast-detail curves under mammographic and other clinical conditions. A standard mammographic ph antom and a contrast-detail phantom were imaged to validate the calcul ation. The results demonstrate that the lesion detectability of a well designed optically-coupled CCD can be comparable to that of the state -of-the-art screen-film system under the same conditions.