Evaluating imaging systems: practical applications

There are many ways in which imaging systems can be evaluated. The aim of the present paper is to provide an overview of a number of selected approaches to evaluating imaging systems, often encountered by the medical physicist, and discuss their validity and reliability. Specifically, it will cover (i) characterisation of an imaging system in terms of its detective quantum efficiency using linear-systems analysis; (ii) attempts to calculate relevant measures directly in images using the Rose model and the pixel signal-to-noise ratio; (iii) task-based methods incorporating human observers such as receiver-operating characteristics and (iv) visual grading-based methods using experienced radiologists as observers.