The quality of a display image is an important factor in medical imaging. However not all radiologists understand how important it is for their displays to be calibrated correctly. Poorly calibrated displays represent a health risk for the patient and can result in expensive legal problems for the practitioner.
 
According to a recent study published on PACS web, “Radiologists who use displays that are not optimized for viewing DICOM-conformance data may be at risk of missing subtle details in their displays. Proper display calibration can ensure that radiologists take full advantage of the benefits offered by the DICOM standard.”
 
Image quality assurance in medical monitors is most important and mandated by DICOM (Digital Imaging Communications in Medicine) standard, which provides guidelines to assure that an image is the same on every monitor. The standard also assures that the monitor displays every detail of an image, as vital information can sometimes be subtle. 

PACS web: „If the display is not calibrated to DICOM, some information could probably not be discovered, although it is included in the file and presented.“

DICOM calibration software adjusts the monitor to a DICOM curve, which allows the eye to see the most subtle shades of gray, ensuring that every detail is detected and the diagnosis is made correctly.

To ensure that all displays are fit for medical imaging use, quality assurance standards, such as DIN 6868-157 or AAPM TG-18, have been set. According to these standards, medical displays must pass acceptance tests when first connected to a diagnostic workstation, and regularly pass constancy tests to ensure the display remains within quality requirements.

QUBYX PerfectLum is a display maintenance software, offering both calibration and quality assurance features. With PerfectLum it is easy to calibrate nearly any display to the high requirements of DICOM standard, as well as pass acceptance and constancy tests according to standards like DIN 6868-157, AAPM TG18, IEC 62563-1, and JESRA X.

Provided with a free Remote Management system, PerfectLum can be used to calibrate and test all medical monitors in a clinic or even network of clinics from a single location.  Using a web-based or a local server, the administrator can view the status of all displays, schedule and start tasks on any monitor, and get notified if any operation has been unsuccessful. With PerfectLum Remote Management, display quality maintenance has become more cost- and time-efficient, eliminating the need for an administrator to physically visit every workstation and interrupt the workflow to perform calibrations and QA.