Breast compression revisited

Breast compression is essential in mammography to reduce breast thickness. Breast thickness reduction reduces the radiation dose and increases the image quality. Breast compression also unfortunately causes discomfort to many women and may deter them from attending for breast screening by mammography. It is essential, therefore, that an optimum amount of compression is applied to minimise breast thickness. Current protocols suggest that breast compression should be applied until physical changes to the breast are observed. Two studies were conducted to investigate the relationship between applied compression force and breast thickness reduction.