Mammography cancer detection: comparison of single 8MP and pair of 5MP reporting monitors

To compare breast cancer detection using a single 8MP display with using a standard pair of 5MP monitors.

An observer study was carried out in which mammograms were read using full field views only, and again with the additional use of magnified quadrant views. Seven observers read 300 cases, one view per breast, using each display type. Cases comprised 100 normal cases and 200 cases with cancers of subtle or very subtle appearance: 100 with malignant calcification clusters and 100 with non-calcified lesions. JAFROC software was used to analyse the results.

When mammograms were viewed full field only, observers performed better (p = 0.050) in detecting malignant calcification clusters when using the pair of 5MP monitors compared with a single 8MP monitor. This result became non-significant when results were generalised to a population of readers. Performance in detecting calcification clusters was improved by using quadrant view in addition to full field view when using either the pair of 5MP monitors or the 8MP monitor. There was no significant difference in detection of all types of cancer between the pair of 5MP monitors and the 8MP monitor when quadrant zoom was used.

Providing quadrant view is used in addition to full field view, there is no significant difference in cancer detection between the 8MP monitor and the pair of 5MP monitors.

Effect of magnification on the detectability of subtle malignant calcification clusters in breast screening.