Diagnostic Radiology, Department of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden.
Medical Radiation Physics, Department of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden.
Acta Radiol. 2021 Dec;62(12):1583-1591. doi: 10.1177/0284185120976925. Epub 2020 Dec 6.
Breast compression in mammography is important but is a source of discomfort and has been linked to screening non-attendance. Reducing compression has little effect on breast thickness, and likely little effect on image quality, due to force being absorbed in the stiff juxta thoracic area instead of in the central breast.
To investigate whether a flexible compression plate can redistribute force to the central breast and whether this affects perceived pain.
Twenty-eight women recalled from mammography screening were compressed with flexible and rigid plates while retaining force and positioning, 15 in the craniocaudal (CC) view and 13 in the mediolateral oblique (MLO) view. Pressure distribution was continuously measured using pressure sensors.
The flexible plate showed greater mean breast pressure in both views: 2.8 versus 2.3 kPa for CC (confidence interval [CI] = 0.2-0.8) and 1.0 versus 0.5 kPa for MLO (CI = 0.2-0.6). The percentage of applied force distributed to the breast was significantly higher with the flexible plate, both on CC (36% vs. 22%, CI = 1-11) and MLO (30% vs. 14%, CI = 4-13).
The flexible plate redistributes pressure to the central breast, achieving a better compression, particularly in the MLO view, though much applied force is still applied to the juxta thoracic region.
乳腺摄影中的乳房压迫很重要，但会引起不适，并与筛查不参加有关。由于力被吸收在胸壁的僵硬区域而不是中央乳房，因此减少压迫对乳房厚度几乎没有影响，并且可能对图像质量几乎没有影响。
研究柔性压迫板是否可以将力重新分配到中央乳房，以及这是否会影响感知到的疼痛。
从乳房 X 光筛查中召回了 28 名女性，同时保留力和位置，分别在头尾位（CC）视图和内外斜位（MLO）视图中用柔性和刚性板进行压缩。使用压力传感器连续测量压力分布。
在两种视图中，柔性板显示出更高的平均乳房压力：CC 为 2.8 对 2.3 kPa（置信区间 [CI] = 0.2-0.8），MLO 为 1.0 对 0.5 kPa（CI = 0.2-0.6）。柔性板在 CC（36%对 22%，CI = 1-11）和 MLO（30%对 14%，CI = 4-13）上，应用力分布到乳房的百分比显著更高。
柔性板将压力重新分配到中央乳房，实现了更好的压缩，特别是在 MLO 视图中，尽管仍然有很大的力施加在胸壁区域。
