Digitized mammograms: a preliminary clinical evaluation and the potential for telemammography

We performed a preliminary clinical evaluation of digitized mammograms to a ssess whether digital images suitable for telemammography could be obtained . Thirty mammograms were digitized at a resolution of 4000 x 4000 pixels an d 12 bit/pixel. The series contained 17 carcinomas in 16 patients. Five con sultant radiologists reported both the original mammograms and the digitize d images. There was agreement between the reports of the mammograms and the digitized images in relation to whether a suspicious lesion was present or not in 95% of cases. No study considered benign on viewing the film images was interpreted as malignant on reporting the digitized images. This sugge sts that film digitizers may allow a digital image of a mammogram of accept able quality for telemammography to be obtained in the absence of a purpose -built digital mammography system.