Estimation of the Factors Affecting Breast Compression Parameters in Mammography

A BSTRACT Background: Breast cancer which has a high mortality rate is now known to decrease due to early detection with the advent of digital mammography screening. During mammography, compression of the breast is highly variable. However, various factors that affect the amount of compression force applied have not been studied thoroughly. Hence, the aim of our study is to enumerate the factors affecting the variability in the applied compression force during mammography. Methods: Data related to breast compression force applied, breast composition, size, and compressed breast thickness along with the details about the technologists who performed the study on each patient were collected from 323 patients who underwent mammography. Intertechnologist variability in compression force application was evaluated using Fisher’s exact test and associations between other factors with respect to breast compression force were established using analysis of variance and linear regression models. Results: A positive correlation between the compression force and the age, breast composition, compressed breast thickness, and breast size was obtained. Technologists’ years of experience were also positively related to the applied compression force. Conclusions: This study provides evidence of the fact that compression application should be varied as per the requirement with respect to the patient’s breast structure, only then can we acquire images with high quality and high diagnostic value, thus reducing recall rates. It also shows that the compression force applied in this study was much lower than those applied in other countries like the UK, US, Netherlands, Norway, etc., which could mean that there is a need to increase the force applied.