The study aimed to compare the radiation dose between digital mammography (DM) and digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and to correlate it with compressed breast thickness (CBT) and breast density. Patient age, CBT, and breast density, kVp, mAs, average glandular dose (AGD), and entrance skin dose (ESD), for 701 cases were retrieved. The radiation dose difference between DM in craniocaudal (CC) and DBT in mediolateral oblique (MLO) views was determined across different CBT and density categories. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to identify the AGD and ESD predictors. The overall AGD of MLO DBT (2.46 mGy) was higher than that of CC DM (2.30 mGy), P<0.001. Similarly, the ESD of MLO DBT (7.67 mGy) was higher than that of CC DM (6.32 mGy), P<0.001. CBT was the primary determinant of AGD in both DM and DBT, with standardized coefficients beta of 0.4 and 0.6, respectively. CBT also was the primary determinant of ESD in both DM and DBT with standardized coefficients beta of 0.2 and 0.9, respectively. The current study found that the AGD of the MLO view of DBT was higher than that of the CC view of DM. However, the overall AGD was still within the ACR-recommended AGD for single view.
Alakhras et al. (Fri,) studied this question.