Radiation dose to the breast during mammography: a comprehensive, realistic Monte Carlo calculation

Certain assumptions have been made regarding the composition of the breast in different age groups: these are believed to be more realistic than existing assumptions and have been used in comprehensive Monte Carlo calculations of radiation dose to the breast and of appropriate indicators of risk as follows: (i) Mean dose to the sensitive tissues in an average breast. This may be used to compare risk in different mammographic techniques, and has been calculated for a wide variety of techniques, including some not previously explicitly studied. (ii) Integral dose to the sensitive tissues in a breast, which is a good indicator of risk in an individual case, has been calculated for two commonly used mammographic techniques and for four different breast compositions and thicknesses. The results have been compared with results obtained using other approaches.