Monitor Calibration is essential. End of story.
If you like missing lesions, don't calibrate your monitor. If you like spending thousands of dollars on a digital radiography system and then throwing away the majority of your image, you should use an uncalibrated monitor. Conversely, if your goal is to make the most of your digital radiography system (and the Showdown DVD) you should take 5 minutes a month and calibrate your monitor.
Consumer grade LCD monitors will diminish in brightness over time and must be routinely recalibrated.
Ideally, monitor calibration is performed using a manual external calibration photometer that is attached to the front of the display or a built in monitor calibration tool that automatically performs display Q/A. Unfortunately, most veterinary practices don't have either of these items as external photometers and autocalibrating monitors are quite expensive. The following is a (very) quick and dirty method of approximating monitor calibration. It will not replace a calibration photometer or an autocalibrating monitor.
To calibrate your monitor, you will use the AAPM Test Target. This target is composed of a number of grey boxes. One quick and dirty method of monitor calibration is to look at the lower left and lower right boxes (see image below). In each of these boxes you should see the words QUALITY CONTROL. If you do not see the words QUALITY CONTROL in both the right and left sides of the image, your monitor needs some work. In most cases, the brightness, gain, and contrast settings on your monitor will need to be adjusted so you can see the words QUALITY CONTROL in the box on the left.
To view the test image click here
For more information about display calibration, AAPM, and to download a DICOM version of this test image please visit the AAPM website
