X-ray dosimetry in breast cancer screening: 2D and 3D mammography. Issue 151 (June 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Di Maria, S.; Vedantham, S.; Vaz, P.
• Is Part Of: European journal of radiology. Issue 151(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-06
• Subjects: X-ray breast dosimetry -- Screening mammography -- Mean glandular dose -- Digital Breast Tomosynthesis; AAPM American Association of Physicists in Medicine -- ACR American College of Radiology -- AEC Automatic Exposure Control -- AGD Average Glandular Dose -- CF Correction Factors -- DBT Digital Breast Tomosynthesis -- DEFM Direct Exposure Film Mammography -- DM Digital Mammography -- EC European Commission -- EFOMP European Federation of Organization for Medical Physics -- EU-BDP EUropean Breast Dosimetric Protocol -- FDA Food and Drug Administration -- HVL Half-value layer -- IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency -- IAK Incident Air Kerma -- ICRP International Commission on Radiological Protection -- MGD Mean Glandular Dose -- MQ Measurable Quantities -- MQSA Mammography Quality Standards Act -- PMMA Polymethyl methacrylate -- QA Quality Assurance -- QC Quality Control -- SDM Synthesized Digital Mammogram -- SFM Screen Film Mammography -- USA-BDP United States of America Breast Dosimetric Protocol -- WHO World Health Organization; Medical radiology -- Periodicals; Radiology -- Periodicals; Radiologie médicale -- Périodiques; Medical radiology; Periodicals; 616.075705
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2022.110278
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0720-048X

Abstract

Abstract: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at the end of 2020, 7.8 million women alive were diagnosed with breast cancer in the past 5 years, making it the world's most prevalent cancer. It is largely recognized and demonstrated that early detection represents the first strategy to follow in the fight against cancer. The effectiveness of mammography screening for early breast cancer detection has been proven in several surveys and studies over the last three decades. The estimation of the Mean Glandular Dose (MGD) is important to understand the radiation-associated risk from breast x-ray imaging exams. It continues to be the subject of numerous studies and debates, since its accuracy is directly related to risk estimation and for optimizing breast cancer screening programs. This manuscript reviews the main dosimetry formalisms used to estimate the MGD in mammography and to understand the continuing efforts to reduce the absorbed dose over the last forty years. The dosimetry protocols were formulated initially for mammography. Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) either in conjunction with synthesized digital mammogram (SDM) or with digital mammography (DM), is routinely used in many breast cancer screening programs and consequently the dosimetry protocols were extended for these techniques.