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Medical display application for degraded image sharpness restoration based on the modulation transfer function: initial assessment for a five-megapixel mammography display monitor

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Abstract

An image-display application for medical liquid–crystal display (LCD) monitors called the sharpness recovery (SR) function has been developed to compensate for image sharpness as a function of deficiencies in the modulation transfer function (MTF) of a monitor. We investigated the effects of the SR function for a five-megapixel (MP) mammography LCD monitor on the resolution and noise properties of the displayed images by measuring the MTF and overall noise power spectrum (NPS), respectively. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the SR function for the 5-MP monitor in displaying subtle microcalcifications on digital mammograms was verified using a two-alternative-forced-choice sensitivity measurement as an initial application for medical image interpretation. Four radiologists compared the visibility of 45 regions of interest with a malignant microcalcification cluster shown on SR-processed and unprocessed mammograms. SR processing improved the MTF of the displayed images by approximately 40% at the Nyquist frequency of the 5-MP monitor, whereas it slightly increased the overall NPS values. All observers indicated that the fraction of cases considered to have better visibility of microcalcifications with the SR processing was significantly greater than that without the processing (averaging 82%, with the 95% confidence interval ranging from 70 to 93%). The SR processing for the 5-MP monitor yielded a significant improvement in the resolution properties of the displayed images, with a certain increase in the image noise. The SR function has the potential to improve the observer performance of radiologists, particularly when reading subtle microcalcifications reproduced on 5-MP monitors.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Kenshi Shiotsuki, RT (Oita University Hospital) for useful discussions, Takafumi Nomura, MD, Keisuke Miyoshi, MD, Shoko Ariyoshi, MD, and Masaki Kamiya, MD (Yamaguchi University) for their participation as observers, Sono Kanoya, RT, Fumiko Yurino, RT, Ayumi Hashimoto, RT, and Eri Tokurei, RT (Yamaguchi University Hospital) for their assistance in the preparation of a database containing clinical digital mammograms, Mamoru Ogaki, Yusuke Bamba, Masaki Kita, and Noriyuki Hashimoto (EIZO Corporation) for the technical support on display monitors with image processing systems, and Kazuyuki Watanabe, Kazushige Hatori, and Hideaki Mizobe (Canon Corporation) for providing a single-lens reflex digital color camera.

Funding

This work was supported in part by grant from EIZO Corporation (Ishikawa, Japan).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiological Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Junshin Gakuen University, 1-1-1 Chikushigaoka, Minami-ku, Fukuoka, 815-8510, Japan

    Shogo Tokurei & Yoichiro Ikushima

  2. Department of Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan

    Yoichiro Ikushima

  3. Department of Radiological Technology, Yamaguchi University Hospital, 1-1-1 Minamikogushi, Ube, Yamaguchi, 755-8505, Japan

    Kazuki Takegami

  4. Division of Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kanazawa University, 5-11-80 Kodatsuno, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, 920-0942, Japan

    Kazuki Takegami

  5. Department of Radiology, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1-1 Minamikogushi, Ube, Yamaguchi, 755-8505, Japan

    Munemasa Okada

  6. Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan

    Junji Morishita

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  1. Shogo Tokurei
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Correspondence to Shogo Tokurei.

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Conflict of interest

J. Morishita received a research grant from EIZO Corporation (Ishikawa, Japan).

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All procedures in studies involving human participants were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional Review Board and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments, or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was waived for the all images used in this study by the Institutional Review Board.

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Tokurei, S., Ikushima, Y., Takegami, K. et al. Medical display application for degraded image sharpness restoration based on the modulation transfer function: initial assessment for a five-megapixel mammography display monitor. Phys Eng Sci Med 44, 581–589 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13246-021-01008-z

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