Objective performance evaluation of medical image displays: A preliminary report of the AAPM TG18

Recent advances in electronic imaging have led to an increased utilization of soft-copy displays for presentation and diagnostic interpretation of medical images in clinical settings. Because of the fundamental importance of display quality in the overall effectiveness of diagnostic imaging, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) has recently formed a Task Group (TG18) to address the acceptance testing and quality control of medical electronic display devices. The purpose of the Task Group is to provide standard guidelines for performing display evaluations by practicing medical physicists, engineers, and display investigators, to assure adequate display performance for clinical tasks, and to facilitate inter- and intra-institutional comparisons. The scope of the effort is limited to display devices for monochrome radiological images. The performance characteristics considered include luminance response, luminance uniformity, resolution, noise, veiling glare, ambient light response, color uniformity, geometrical distortions, and display artifacts. For each of the characteristics, three levels of evaluation are considered: visual, quantitative, and advanced. Based on the current standard of practice, suggestions are made for the acceptable ranges of display performance with limited impact on diagnostic efficacy. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief outline and summary of the TG18 report.

Duke Scholars

Author Ehsan Samei Radiology