Analysis of the impact of digital image format on the evaluation of a mammography phantom

Since the introduction of digital mammography systems, image files have adopted the DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) format as the standard for reporting, storage, and transfer, due to its integration with communication systems and medical equipment. The DICOM format, which includes a header and sets of image data, allows these to be compressed into a single file and also enables adjustments to the image contrast window, in addition to offering high resolution. However, the files are bulky, making storage and transmission difficult, and they are not recognized by common Windows® software, requiring additional software. Therefore, it is crucial to explore different formats to assist in interpretation and transmission between equipment and specialists. In this context, this study aims to visually and objectively assess the quality of digital mammography phantom images using different file formats (DICOM, JPG at four quality levels: 85, 90, 95, and 100% (8 bits), and PNG with lossless compression (8 bits)), as well as quantify the influence of compressions in each image format. (author)