Estimation of mean glandular dose for mammography of augmented breasts.

The standard quantity used to relate breast surface exposure to radiation risk is the mean dose received by the radiation sensitive tissue contained within the female breast, the mean glandular dose (MGD). At present, little is known about the MGD received by women with breast implants as there is no technique available to facilitate its calculation. The present work has involved modification of the conventional method for MGD estimation to make it applicable to women with augmented breasts. The technique was used to calculate MGDs for a cohort of 80 women with breast implants, which were compared with similar data calculated for a total of 1258 non-augmented women. Little difference was found in median MGD at low compressed breast thickness. At high breast thickness, however, the MGDs received by women with augmented breasts were found to be considerably lower than those relating to their non-augmented counterparts.