Effect of Compression Force and Target or Target/Filter Combination on Mean Glandular Dose for Japanese Women in Full-Field Digital Mammography System

Abstract

We constructed a mammography database of 807 Japanese women and 2,772 images obtained using five commercial full-field digital mammography (FFDM) devices at four different facilities. Five types of mammography devices fabricated by four manufacturers were used: one with a Mo target (AMULET F), one with Mo and Rh targets (Senographe DS), one with Mo and W targets (AMULET), and two with a W target (MAMMOMAT Fusion and Selenia Dimensions). The purpose of this study was to focus on the mean glandular dose (MGD) in the database and analyze the difference in the MGD of Japanese women radiographed by mammographic devices with different targets or target/filter combinations. Furthermore, we clarify the difference between the displayed and measured MGDs for the three types of mammography devices. The average compression pressure and compression breast thickness of the Japanese women in the mammography in this study were 90.9±21.7 N and 43.3±12.9 mm, respectively. The breast compression pressure slightly varied depending on the facility or FFDM device, while the compression breast thickness decreased with the increase in the compression pressure for all FFDM devices. Differences in breast compression thickness existed depending on the mammography devices. The MGDs of the two types of mammography devices using the W target were smallest (1.335±0.358, 1.218±0.464 mGy). The displayed and measured MGDs of the three types of FFDM devices had a good correlation. However, the difference between the displayed and measured MGDs of the two devices increased with the MGD.