Determination of the mean glandular dose in mammography: Methodology and optimization

The mean glandular dose (MGD) is the largeness associated with the risk of cancer induction due to mammographic practices. In Brazil, between the years 2010 and 2016, there was an increase of 600 thousand in the number of exams performed in the public health network for care in the Program of Mammographic screening for the purpose of early detection of breast cancer. The objective of the present study was the optimization of physical parameters to minimize the average glandular dose in practice mammography. A methodology that uses a Breast Tissue Equivalent (BTE) simulator, with composition and density equivalent to the human breast, for the experimental determination and semi-empirical of the DGM and incident air kerma (Ka, i) using thermoluminescent dosimeters tracked in the National Laboratory of Ionizing Radiation Metrology, was implemented. 56 studies were carried out for MGD in three different mammographers and compared with the levels acceptable values described in the literature and an accuracy of 75% was achieved in relation to the acceptable index by Klein. The results achieved in the present work show safe dose levels in terms of cancer induction and deaths due to such medical radiodiagnosis practices.