Objective:
The European Guidelines for Quality Control of Mammography (EPQC) define the minimum quality standards for image quality that all analog and digital mammography systems must meet. The aim of the work was to answer the question whether the new Pro-MAM Gold mk II test bodies from the manufacturer Pro-Projects can meet the requirements of the EPQC?
Material and methodology:
The test specimens used differ in terms of their structure. In order to obtain clear results, comparative measurements were carried out with two Pro-MAM Gold mk II and CDMAM 3.4 phantoms each on three analog and two digital mammography systems. Rh, W / Rh) and tube voltages (26 kV, 28 kV, 30 kV). The image material acquired was evaluated for the CDMAM 3.4 test specimens with EUREF CDMAM-Analysis v1.5.5 software. The Pro-MAM Gold mk II phantoms were made with the manufacturer's Pro-Control software. In a second step, the recordings were analyzed with the CDMAM Fit 3, ERICA programs and the results compared with the first two tools as far as technically possible.
Results:
The results showed that the prototype of the Pro-MAM Gold mk II test body almost achieved the quality of the CDMAM 3.4 test body. With 20 digital recordings, the CDMAM 3.4 test specimen passes 100 percent; the prototype of the Pro-MAM Gold mk II reaches almost 90 percent. Since the mammography systems (digital and analog) react differently to the test specimens, no specific comparison can be made with the mAs values between the systems.
Conclusions:
The Pro-MAM Gold mk II as a test body represents an alternative to the standard CDMAM 3.4 test body. Further examinations and, if necessary, adjustments to the quality assurance protocols enable the test body to be used safely.
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