Radiographic elements for mammographic medical diagnostic imaging

摘要

A mammographic medical diagnostic radiographic element is disclosed having emulsion layers coated on opposite surfaces of a transparent film support. To facilitate rapid processing the emulsion layers are fully forehardened and less than 35 mg/dm² of hydrophilic colloid is coated on each major surface. To reduce crossover and hydrophilic colloid, emulsions on the opposite sides of the support are each divided into two layers with the layer coated nearest the support containing a particulate dye capable of being decolorized during processing. Particulate dye and silver halide grains together account for between 30 and 70 percent of the total weight of the emulsion layers. Combined with the use of spectrally sensitized tabular grain emulsions crossover can be reduced to less than 15 percent while processing can be completed in less than 45 seconds. The distribution of hydrophilic colloid and silver halide grains chosen achieves low wet pressure sensitivity. Reducing the coefficient of variation of the radiation-sensitive silver halide grains to less than 15 percent and incorporating a rhodium dopant in a normalized molar concentration of less than 1 X 10^-7 based on silver allows average and lower scale contrasts currently used for mammographic imaging to be satisfied without any significant reduction in photographic speed.