BARCO : How brighter images increase breast cancer detection

How does display luminance impact detection probability?

'The benefits of the brightness boost with I-Luminate are astonishing: small and low contrast details are easier to see, dense breast tissue is sharper, and near skin-line details are much brighter', says Albert Xthona, product manager for Women's Health. 'Just imagine how this provides radiologists with a new degree of diagnostic confidence and performance, not to mention the impact it has on patients who are concerned about false positives and negatives.'

'Based on a study we initiated in 2012, we noticed that an increase in display luminance improves the detection of relevant-size micro calcifications significantly,' adds Tom Kimpe, Barco Healthcare's VP Technology & Innovation. 'The study also shows that, compared to a standard mammography display (calibrated at 500 cd/m²), our latest mammography display, Coronis Uniti, combined with I-Luminate technology increases the detection probability by up to 30%!¹'

How does it work?

The idea behind I-Luminate is as simple as it is effective. By increasing the display brightness, the number of Just Noticeable Differences, i.e. the threshold at which a change on the screen is perceived, increases, enabling faster inspection and detection of smaller objects. This also reduces windowing and leveling time, which has a huge impact on workflow efficiency and clinical productivity.

I-Luminate was first introduced to the market in 2010 with the Mammo Tomosynthesis 5MP display system. Because of its huge benefits, this technology has now also been incorporated into our other high-end mammography displays.