Mammographic resolution: influence of focal spot intensity distribution and geometry

The influence of focal spot intensity distribution and geometry upon mammographic image quality were evaluated. The modulation transfer functions (MTF's) for eight different intensity distributions were determined and plotted in a manner to eliminate the effects of magnification and focal spot dimension. The results indicated that the total cross-sectional area is important for focal spots with uniform intensity distributions and equivalent diameters. For equivalent focal spot dimensions, intensity distributions with edge bands were shown to have less spatial resolution than uniform intensity distributions. Focal spots with greater intensities towards their centers provided better resolution than either uniform intensity distributions or distributions with edge bands for equivalent sizes. The type of intensity distribution was also shown to affect the accuracy of star pattern measurements of focal spot size; this method of measurement is only precise for a uniform square intensity distribution. Errors obtained with several other intensity distributions were tabulated. The variations of the effective focal spot size with position along the anode-cathode axis were shown to be of a factor of approximately two to three. The combined effects of geometric blur and film/screen blur were present for various heights above the cassette tray on several different mammographic systems.