This proposal addresses the problem of image display for digital mammography: grey scale, display luminance, dynamic range, spatial resolution and contrast resolution. We wish to demonstrate that with proper image processing as well as with special presentation methods, soft-copy presentations of digital mammograms can become equivalent to hard-copy for visualizing normal and pathologic features. The image processing proposed will compensate for the deficiencies of the display with respect to grey scale, display luminance, dynamic range, spatial resolution and contrast resolution. The proposed special presentation will include two main views, a low resolution view of the whole mammogram, and a high resolution view of a portion of the mammogram in conjunction with roaming and zooming . Fast algorithms will perform equalization of the data set to permit high contrast emplification. The strategy to be used for the image processing of the soft-copy images for a specific display device is as follows: Generate software to obtain two views of soft-copy presentation: a low spatial resolution one, where the whole mammogram is seen, and a high resolution one where only a portion of the mammogram is seen at any one time in a fairly large window, but fairly aggressively contrast enhanced. Restore the physical image quality in the soft-copy wherever the image quality of the soft-copy device is inferior to the accepted hard-copy. Compensate for the effects of lower luminance and small luminance dynamic range by some additional enhancement of the higher-frequency components in the image. We will use digitized film-screen based mammograms as well as mammograms from digital detectors for this study. The film- screen based mammograms will be digitized to a resolution of 50 micrometers. Both the digitized mammorgrams as well as the mammograms from digital digital detectors will be image processed and displayed on two CRTs with spatial resolutions of 2048 x 2560. An ROC study will compare this soft-copy display with viewing of the original mammograms on a conventional light box.
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