A formal study of lateral magnification and its influence on mammographic imaging sharpness

Radiographic magnification is often employed in mammography to improve detection of small anatomical details of clinical interest, such as microcalcifications. The image size depends on the conventional magnification factor, on the focal spot size, and on the x-ray angulation. In this paper magnification effects are investigated for an object which lays off the radiation field center, for which there is a "lateral magnification" that makes it possible to obtain a sharper image of the object. This occurs because the true image size (i.e., the shadow) becomes larger as the distance from the beam center to the object increases, while the total blurring (penumbra) which is responsible for the unsharpness remains constant. The statement is valid only in the boundary of the perpendicular axis, which for most mammographic units corresponds to the position where the thickest portion of the breast is placed. Calculations are presented which show that the lateral magnification can be useful for enhancing breast microcalcifications using radiographic magnification.