A comparative evaluation of two full-field digital mammography units

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At the present time there are two full-field digital mammography units available to the UK market: 1) GE Senographe 2000D; 2) Trex Medical Corporation Digital Mammography System

The Senographe 2000D uses a caesium iodide/amorphous silicon flat panel detector and provides a field size of 19 × 23 cm. Automatic exposure control is via the detector, and the grid can be removed for magnification techniques. The image is displayed on a high-resolution monitor and can be manipulated using a number of image processing tools.

The Trex Digital Mammography System uses an array of 12 charge couple device (CCD) cameras. The data are 'stitched' together by the associated software to provide a single image. This is displayed on a high-resolution monitor, although currently the manufacturer recommends reporting from laser printer hard copy images. KCARE has carried out an evaluation of both of these units in terms of breast dose and image quality using a range of standard test objects. The results of these evaluations will be discussed and where possible compared to film screen systems.