New device may ease mammography discomfort

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Researchers have developed a new device that may result in more comfortable mammography for women.

According to them, standardising the pressure applied in mammography would reduce pain associated with breast compression without sacrificing image quality.

Compression of the breast is necessary in mammography to optimise image quality and minimize absorbed radiation dose.

However, mechanical compression of the breast in mammography often causes discomfort and pain and deters some women from mammography screening.

An additional problem associated with compression is the variation that occurs when the technologist adjusts compression force to breast size, composition, skin tautness and pain tolerance.

"This means that the breast may be almost not compressed at all which increases the risks of image quality degradation and extra radiation dose," said Woutjan Branderhorst, researcher in the department of biomedical engineering and physics at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam.

Standardising the applied pressure would reduce both over- and under-compression and lead to a more reproducible imaging procedure with less pain, Branderhorst added.

The results are set to be presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago.