Investigation on digital images format and compression for dense breast images processing (ref. 32, 36)

Investigation of digital images characteristics relative to their format and compression in order to evaluate the effect on mammographic images processing schemes performance. An evaluation on the radiographic images digitization process was performed - investigating scanners properties as well as softwares used to digitized images acquisition management. The results have shown that processing methods need digital images with, at least, 12 bits of contrast resolution and 0.1 mm of spatial resolution in order to detect efficiently the main structures of interest in mammography, as, for example, microcalcifications. In addition, the study has concluded by the lossless JPEG technique for images compression, as well as the TIFF format as the most suitable for better results with dense breast mammographic images processing.