Mammography phantoms are used by hospitals and medical institutions for quality control and training purposes. For a mammography exam to be as accurate as possible, patients must be correctly positioned and the equipment must be in full working order. Mammography phantoms help ensure that this is the case.
Mammography systems need to be sensitive to small abnormalities in size and contrast. Due to the low margins of error involved, in real life situations, it may not be obvious whether or not this criterion has been met. This has the potential to lead to false negatives, which could result in early stage breast cancer not being detected.
For this reason, all mammography systems need to be monitored and tested at specified intervals. Mammography phantoms provide a known control. The X-Ray image obtained from the scan of a mammography phantom can be run through analytical software to determine the Contrast-Detail curve, from which the image quality can be evaluated.
Other important information can also be found, such as the optimum exposure technique or the optimum background density, and the performance of different systems can be compared in a quantitative way.
For training and teaching purposes, a more human-like phantom constructed from the moulded gel is a useful tool for practising mammographic positioning. It is still important, of course, that the phantom produces realistic radiographic images so that staff can complete the entire procedure in a controlled setting.
Mammography phantoms manufactured by RSD Alderson and Artinis are highly regarded in the industry. Between those two brands, we stock both training phantoms and those for the optimization, evaluation, and quality control of mammography equipment. Browse our range now and contact us for a quote.
