Toward objective and quantitative evaluation of imaging systems using images of phantoms

The use of imaging phantoms is a common method of evaluating image quality in the clinical setting. These evaluations rely on a subjective decision by a human observer with respect to the faintest detectable signal(s) in the image. Because of the variable and subjective nature of the human‐observer scores, the evaluations manifest a lack of precision and a potential for bias. The advent of digital imaging systems with their inherent digital data...