Is there a minimum MP requirement for monitors in mammography?

Several of our power users in Orbit Radiology are radiologists with specialization in mammography, and they use Orbit to efficiently satisfy MQSA requirements for CME including mammo and tomo credits.

One of our users posed this question to us - is there a minimum megapixels (MP) requirement for monitors in mammography?

We were surprised to see that there were no pages that explicitly addressed this question. Part of this is because the 1992 Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) does not address digital monitor standards.  We decided to contact the American College of Radiology (ACR) for a definitive response. While the ACR doesn't set the guidelines, they interface directly with the FDA which does.

Here are the key points:

1. There are no minimum MP requirements for mammography
2. Any monitor you use for mammography must be FDA explicitly approved for use in mammography
3. Lots of quality measures go into whether the FDA approves a monitor

If you'd like to dive deeper, check out the references at the bottom of this post.

Questions? Email support@orbitcme.com

References

1. 1992 Mammography Quality Standards Act [fulltext]. Click on Subpart A, B, and C to explore. The writing is readable, not mired in legal language.
2. ACR-AAPM-SIIM Technical Standards for Electronic Practice of Medical Imaging, revised 2017 [PDF].
3. ACR Mammography Accreditation Support [link]