Preliminary investigation of the clinical usefulness of super-high-resolution LCDs with 9 and 15 mega-sub-pixels: observation studies with phantoms.

Our purpose in this study was to evaluate the preliminary clinical efficacy of soft-copy reading of digital mammography, for a 15-mega-sub-pixel (MsP) and a 9-MsP super-high-resolution liquid-crystal display (SHR-LCD) by use of an independent sub-pixel driving technology. We performed three kinds of phantom observation studies by six radiological technologists. Detectability of a contrast-detail phantom and simulated small objects (SSOs) resembling microcalcifications (MCLs), and shape discrimination ability of SSOs with round and square shapes, were examined and compared with a 5-MP conventional LCD (5-MP LCD). In each study, four types of display magnification ratio were used. The detectability and the shape discrimination ability of the 15-MsP SHR-LCD were highest among the three LCDs of most of the display magnification ratios. The 9-MsP SHR-LCD indicated a higher or equal performance as compared with the 5-MP LCD in the SSO detection and shape studies. The results of our study demonstrated that the SHR-LCDs had good potential to detect MCLs and to evaluate the shape in high-resolution digital mammography.