Synchrotron Radiation: New Trend in X-Ray Mammography

E. Burattini National Laboratory of Nuclear Physics, INFN (National Institute for Nuclear Physics), Via E. Fermi, 00044 Frascati, Rome, Italy and Science Department of Verona University, Via Le Grazie, Verona, Italy

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In order to exploit the peculiar characteristics of synchrotron radiation for X-ray mammography purposes, monochromatic X-ray beams of selected energies from 16 keV to 22 keV have been used for the first time ever to obtain mammograms of surgically removed breast specimens containing cancer nodules. The apparatus devised particularly in view of a possible clinical applications, allowed large breast specimens fixed in space to be exposed to a vertical scanning X-ray beam. The mammograms obtained with synchrotron radiation, compared with those made using a traditional mammographic unit had higher contrast and better resolution demonstrating, in all the cases studied, a high capability to display a large number of structures inside the neoplastic lesions. Thermoluminescent dosimeters were used to determine the doses. The average mean glandular doses, at 17 keV and 18 keV, were 1.56 mGy and 0.84 mGy, respectively, comparable with the value of 1.41 mGy delivered with the conventional grid apparatus.

DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.91.707 PACS numbers: 07.85.Qe, 87.59.Ek