Effect of Default Display and Presentation Protocol on Softcopy Mammography

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of default image display, presentation protocol, and workstation configuration on the softcopy interpretation of mammograms. Results from ROC studies that compared film to softcopy mammography were analyzed for this purpose. On average, no difference in performance was observed between the two modalities. However, differences were identified in individual observer performance and the qualitative evaluation of the two platforms that were related to the system’s speed, the default grayscale display of the images, and possibly the CRT phosphor. Speed and default display were ranked as the top two impact factors on softcopy reading.