Although mammography is currently considered by many to be the best tool for the early detection of breast cancer, conventional film-screen imaging is still far from perfect. A fundamental limitation of film-screen mammography is the fact that the detection, display and storage devices are one and the same, making it impossible to separately optimize each device. In addition to a potentially equivalent or better image quality compared to the film-screen technology, full-field digital mammography (FFDM) will provide the radiologist with numerous advantages: digital image management, digital data transfer and new medical applications. Nevertheless, to fulfil the potential of digital mammography, an FFDM unit must not only provide an outstanding technology for X-ray detection, but should be designed as a complete system. Each component of the FFDM system should be designed to provide or to increase the current image quality, the current ease of use and the current throughput: the X-ray tube, the gantry, the image receptor packaging, the detector, the acquisition electronics, the softcopy review workstation, the user interface, as well as the network capabilities. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
