The effect of breast compression on mass conspicuity in digital mammography

Abstract

This study analyzed how the inherent quality of diagnostic information in digital mammography could be affected by breast compression. A digital mammography system was modeled using a Monte Carlo algorithm based on the Penelope program, which has been successfully used to model several medical imaging systems. First, the Monte Carlo program was validated against previous measurements and simulations. Once validated, the Monte Carlo software modeled a digital mammography system by tracking photons through a voxelized software breast phantom, containing anatomical structures and breast masses, and following photons until they were absorbed by a selenium-based flat-panel detector. Simulations were performed for two compression conditions (standard compression and 12.5% reduced compression) and three photon flux conditions (constant flux, constant detector signal, and constant glandular dose). The results showed that reduced compression led to higher scatter fractions, as expected. For the constant photon flux condition, decreased compression also reduced glandular dose. For constant glandular dose, the SdNR for a 4 cm breast was 0.60 +/- 0.11 and 0.62 +/- 0.11 under standard and reduced compressions, respectively. For the 6 cm case with constant glandular dose, the SdNR was 0.50 +/- 0.11 and 0.49 +/- 0.10 under standard and reduced compressions, respectively. The results suggest that if a particular imaging system can handle an approximately 10% increase in total tube output and 10% decrease in detector signal, breast compression can be reduced by about 12% in terms of breast thickness with little impact on image quality or dose.

Comparative performance of multiview stereoscopic and mammographic display modalities for breast lesion detection

“…This difference in thickness was considered to have a negligible effect on dose. 4 As for mAs, the total mean mAs for the MVS image sets was 30% higher than the mean for the mammograms, which means that each projection of a MVS set was acquired with about 5% of the dose used to acquire a single mammogram, corresponding to a 95% reduction in dose per projection. In summary, although MVS has less dose per projection, the total dose for the entire image set is 30% higher than that for the mammogram.…”

“…The average tomosynthesis breast thickness was 0.85 mm thicker than the average mammography breast thickness. This difference in thickness was considered to have a negligible effect on dose 4 . As for mAs, the total mean mAs for the MVS image sets was 31% higher than the mean for the mammograms, which means that each projection of an MVS set was acquired with about 5% of the dose used to acquire a mammogram, corresponding to a 95% reduction in dose per projection.…”

Towards personalized compression in mammography: A comparison study between pressure- and force-standardization

“…In mammography, flattening of the breast reduces dose [1,2] and improves image quality [3][4][5][6]. However, these so called "breast compressions" are also associated with discomfort and pain [7,8].…”

Mammographic compression in Asian women

“…Breast compression is applied in mammography as it has several advantages including: (1) reduction of overlapping of breast tissues [1–4]; (2) reduction of scattered radiation and thereby, improves image contrast and reduces radiation dose to the breast [1–3, 5]; and (3) reduction of geometric and motion blurring [1–3]. Due to the breast size and elasticity, breast compression will result in the formation of a breast contact area between the breast and compression paddle [1].…”