RESUMO
PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to investigate whether the use of self-compression in craniocaudal (CC) projection has an effect on compression force, breast thickness, radiation dose and image quality compared to the standard mammographic procedure. METHODS: The study was conducted on 200 female patients that were referred for mammographic imaging. Patients were randomly divided into two equal groups. In the first group, self-compression was performed on the right breast and in the second group on the left breast. The data about compression force (N), breast thickness (mm), and mean glandular dose (MGD; mGy) were collected. In addition, the differences in the mentioned variables according to the side of self-compression were compared. All mammographic images were evaluated by two experienced radiologists according to the criteria established by the European Commission. RESULTS: The use of self-compression resulted in a significant increase in compression force by 21.7 % (19.8 N) and a significant reduction of breast thickness by 5% (2.43 mm) and MGD by 6.3 % (0.09 mGy), respectively. There were no statistically significant differences based on the self-compression side, and no differences were observed in image quality assessment. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that the imaging protocol in mammography of the CC projection can be adopted by the use of self-compression in order to achieve better results.
