Performance characteristics and quality assurance considerations for displays used in interventional radiology and cardiac catheterization facilities

PURPOSE: While the performance of displays used for the acquisition and primary interpretation of medical images has been well‐characterized, notably absent are publications evaluating and discussing the performance of displays used in Interventional Radiology (IR) suites and Cardiac Catheterization (CC) laboratories. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the performance of these displays and to consider the challenges in implementation of display quality assurance practices in this environment. METHODS: Ten large format displays used in IR and CC suites were evaluated. A visual inspection of available test patterns was performed followed by a quantitative evaluation of several performance characteristics including luminance ratio, luminance response function, and luminance uniformity. Additionally, the local ambient lighting conditions were evaluated. RESULTS: Luminance ratios ranged from 243.0 to 1182.1 with a mean value of 500.1 ± 289.2. The maximum deviation between the luminance response function and the DICOM Grayscale Standard Display Function ranged from 11.2% to 38.3% with a mean value of 26.2% ± 10.9%. When evaluating luminance uniformity, the mean maximum luminance deviation was 13.2% ± 3.5%. The mean value of luminance deviation from the median was 7.8% ± 1.0%. Measured values of background illuminance ranged from 29.1 to 310.0 lux with a mean value of 107.6 lux ± 80.4 lux. While no mura or bad pixels were observed during visual inspection, damage including scrapes and scratches as well as smudges was common to most of the displays. CONCLUSION: This work provides much needed data for the characterization of the performance of the large format displays used in IR and CC laboratory suites. These data may be used as a point of comparison when implementing a display QA program.