Precision imaging-its impact on image quality and diagnostic confidence in breast ultrasound examinations

Alfiya Safina; Louisa Lau; Patrick Brennan; Claudia Mello-Thoms; Peter Kench; Elaine Ryan; Mark McEntee; Mary Rickard

doi:10.1259/bjr.20140340

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Precision imaging-its impact on image quality and diagnostic confidence in breast ultrasound examinations

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Precision imaging-its impact on image quality and diagnostic confidence in breast ultrasound examinations

Alfiya Safina, Louisa Lau, Patrick Brennan, Claudia Mello-Thoms, Peter Kench, Elaine Ryan, Mark McEntee and Mary Rickard

British journal of radiology, Vol.88(1054), pp.20140340-20140340

10/2015

DOI: 10.1259/bjr.20140340

PMCID: PMC4730958

PMID: 26286642

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Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

To determine the effect of noise-reducing innovation-precision imaging (PI)-on image quality and diagnostic efficacy in breast ultrasound. The study, which assessed four levels of PI from zero to three, consisted of two parts: image quality assessment and diagnostic efficacy evaluation. For the first part, 247 sets of ultrasound images displayed at each PI level were evaluated by 6 experienced breast imaging observers, by rating image quality using visual grading analysis on a 1-4 scale. For the diagnostic efficacy part 51 breast lesions were displayed at each PI level and scored 1-6 to generate a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. These images were evaluated by radiologists and sonographers. Analyses were performed using non-parametric Friedman and Wilcoxon signed rank tests and a multireader multicase methodology. Statistically, higher scores of image quality were observed with increased levels of PI than with the zero setting (p < 0.001). The ROC analysis did not demonstrate any significant change in diagnostic efficacy, with mean scores for all observers being 0.79, 0.80, 0.81 and 0.81 for settings zero, one, two and three, respectively. This study suggested a perceived improvement in image quality with increasing levels of PI; however, no changes in diagnostic efficacy were noted. The importance of looking at the impact of new imaging technologies in a multifaceted way is emphasized. To our knowledge, this is the first article investigating the impact of the PI algorithm on ultrasound image quality and breast lesion characterization.

Reproducibility of Results

Ultrasonography, Mammary - methods

Humans

Middle Aged

Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods

Young Adult

Sensitivity and Specificity

Aged, 80 and over

Adult

Female

ROC Curve

Aged

Breast Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging

Observer Variation

Details

Title: Subtitle: Precision imaging-its impact on image quality and diagnostic confidence in breast ultrasound examinations
Creators: Alfiya Safina - 1 The Sydney Breast Clinic, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Louisa Lau - 1 The Sydney Breast Clinic, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Patrick Brennan - 2 Medical Radiation Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Claudia Mello-Thoms - 2 Medical Radiation Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Peter Kench - 2 Medical Radiation Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Elaine Ryan - 2 Medical Radiation Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Mark McEntee - 2 Medical Radiation Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Mary Rickard - 1 The Sydney Breast Clinic, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: British journal of radiology, Vol.88(1054), pp.20140340-20140340
DOI: 10.1259/bjr.20140340
PMID: 26286642
PMCID: PMC4730958
NLM abbreviation: Br J Radiol
ISSN: 0007-1285
eISSN: 1748-880X
Publisher: England
Language: English
Date published: 10/2015
Academic Unit: Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering; Radiology
Record Identifier: 9984051579002771

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