University of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester M6 6PU, United Kingdom.
Med Phys. 2013 Apr;40(4):041907. doi: 10.1118/1.4792720.
Compression is necessary in mammography to improve image quality and reduce radiation burden. Maximizing the amount of breast in contact with the image receptor (IR) is important. To achieve this, for the craniocaudal projection, there is no consensus within the literature regarding how the IR should be positioned relative to the inframammary fold (IMF). No information exists within the literature to describe how pressure balancing between IR and paddle, and IR breast footprint, might be optimized. This paper describes a novel method for measuring the respective pressures applied to the breast from the IR and the paddle and a method to simultaneously measure the breast footprints on the IR and the paddle.
Using a deformable breast phantom and electronic pressure-sensitive mat, area and pressure readings were gathered from two mammography machines and four paddles at 60, 80, and 100 N with the IR positioned at -2, -1, 0, +1, and +2 cm relative to the IMF (60 combinations in total).
Paddle and IR footprints were calculated along with a uniformity index (UI). For all four paddle/machine/pressure combinations the greatest IR footprint was achieved at IMF +2 cm. The UI indicates that the best pressure/footprint balance is achieved at IMF +1 cm.
The authors' method appears to be suited to measuring breast footprints and pressures on IR and paddle and a human female study is planned.
在乳房 X 光摄影术中，压缩是必要的，以提高图像质量并降低辐射负担。最大限度地使乳房与图像接收器（IR）接触是很重要的。为了实现这一点，对于头尾投影，文献中对于 IR 相对于乳腺下皱襞（IMF）应如何定位没有共识。文献中没有信息描述如何优化 IR 和桨叶之间的压力平衡以及 IR 乳房足迹。本文描述了一种测量 IR 和桨叶对乳房施加的各自压力的新方法，以及同时测量 IR 和桨叶上乳房足迹的方法。
使用可变形乳房体模和电子压力敏感垫，从两台乳房 X 光机和四个桨叶在 60、80 和 100 N 下收集面积和压力读数，IR 相对于 IMF 定位在-2、-1、0、+1 和+2 cm（总共 60 种组合）。
计算了桨叶和 IR 足迹以及均匀性指数（UI）。对于所有四个桨叶/机器/压力组合，在 IMF +2 cm 处获得了最大的 IR 足迹。UI 表明，在 IMF +1 cm 处达到了最佳的压力/足迹平衡。
作者的方法似乎适合测量 IR 和桨叶上的乳房足迹和压力，并且计划进行人体女性研究。
