Evaluation of glandular dose in mammography in presence of breast cysts using Monte Carlo simulation

Background: Normalized glandular dose (DgN) is an important dosimetric quantity in mammography.

Aim: In this study, the effect of the presence of breast cysts and their size, number and location on DgN is evaluated.

Materials and methods: The effect of the presence of cysts in breast was examined using MCNPX code. This was performed by taking homogeneous breast phantoms containing spheroid breast cysts into account. The radius of the cysts, numbers of the cysts, and depth of the cysts, and their location were variable. Various electron energies were also considered. Finally, these results were compared with the results of a cyst-less breast phantom.

Results: The results show that the effect of the presence of cysts in the breast depends on the size, number and location of cysts. The presence of cysts at lower depths leads to a decrease in the DgN values, compared to the breast phantom without cysts. The presence of cysts in the breast phantom has an effect of -7 to +14 percent on the DgN values under the conditions considered in this modeling. This effect is independent of the X-ray tube voltage, the breast phantom thickness, and glandular ratio, and depends only on the number and size and location of the cysts. The bigger radius and number of cysts, the greater effect on DgN value.