[Factors influencing quality of mammograms]

Due to its outstanding role for screening and diagnosis of breast cancer, optimizing the quality of mammographies was in the main focus of interest within the past two decades. However, there exist additional, non-technical factors influencing diagnostic confidence of mammograms, which were usually not part of discussions concerning mammographic image quality. Nevertheless, these non-technical factors are of great interest into the female population. Information and instruction of the patient prior to mammography helps to increase the compliance of the patient during mammography, and thus not only cooperation during examination is optimized, but also cooperation in the screening program. Furthermore, timing the examination within the first part of the menstrual cycle and regarding specific patient-related factors can decrease pain and discomfort during mammography, which will increase image quality.