Patient discomfort during screen-film mammography

Vigorous compression is required to minimize radiation dose and maximize image quality for screen-film mammography. Of 356 women who adequately completed a questionnaire following mammography, 171 (48%) reported mammography to be comfortable, 135 (38%) uncomfortable but tolerable, 39 (11%) very uncomfortable, and only 11 (3%) found the examination to be intolerable. Only 14 women (4%) indicated that they would not return for mammography at our facility in the future. Because of this high level of acceptance of compression by women, technologists and radiologists should not hesitate to use vigorous compression to optimize image quality and decrease radiation dose to the patient.