Designing a shield to reduce radiation dose during mammography: Dosimetric evaluation

Background: this paper presents a method to reduce radiation exposure during mammography by analysing the doses to ipsilateral and contralateral breasts and to adjacent organs by evaluating material-dependent shielding performance. materials and methods: six target-filter combinations (mo-mo, mo-rh, rh-rh, rh -mo, w-mo, w-rh) were tested by measuring the doses delivered to the breasts and adjacent organs, with the contralateral (opposite side) breast shielded. the shield was designed to have a simple (┓,┎) shape for ease of use in actual clinical settings, using lead, copper, bismuth, and barium sulphate (baso4) as materials for shield configuration. results: the dosimetric data revealed that the highest absorbed dose was exhibited by the target filter combination of rh/rh, followed by w/rh, w/mo, rh/mo, mo/rh, and mo/mo. additionally, the radiation dose was reduced by 54–55%, with the average absorbed dose on the contralateral breast reduced from 0.655 to 0.359 mgy. all four shielding materials used in the experiments were analysed for the shielding effect. conclusion: this using a shield during screening mammography would alleviate concerns about the mammography-induced risk of breast cancer and secondary effects.