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Mammography Dose
1. Subject: Mammography Doses
>Sue Dupre asked:
>A question arising out of my own personal experience with the medical
>establishment: This morning I had a routine mammogram (4 shots) done
>and asked the technologist about the approximate dose involved...
>I have two questions then: 1) What is the approximate dose range
>for a mammogram series...
Rare earth screen mammograms can deliver glandular doses in the 150-
250 mrad range even with good technique. Xeroradiography doses can
exceed 500 mrad (not too many being done now). Old cone techniques
easily delivered over 1,000 mrad! (Note that these doses are per
film taken.)
>and 2) are there laws that require that medical dose information
>e made available to the patient if the patient requests such
>nformation? ...
JCAHO expects the radiology service to be able to provide dose
information to the patient. Some states may be more exact (but
most State regulations apply to OCCUPATIONAL doses/not medical!).
>I am reacting to several facets of the situations I've encountered
>so far: to the somewhat condescending tone (even when I've revealed
>that I'm a radiation safety professional) I perceive in the answer.
>The sense I always get is that the patient must be given a vague...
Well, we try to train radiology technologists not to get into the
assembly line mode, but almost always fail in the end! Business
is too busy and they worry about getting films the radiologists
will be happy with. However, SOMEONE in the department should
have been able to answer your questions, preferably the radiologist
reading your films (if no one else, such as a diagnostic medical
physicist--who would probably have the best answer if measurements
had been made on the particular machine used in your exam recently).
>...patient's body WHEN the patient asks. I am also curious about
>whether men get different handling from the technologists if the
>question about dose is asked by a man.
Well, it IS a lot harder to get good compression with men! (Men
do get some breast cancer, by the way, just much rarer than in
women.) I don't think there is much sexism here, we all get
lousy answers from the technologists! Actually, I made some
very nervous in a dental office once, I was a little upset after
they repeated a whole mouth series twice (especially when they
said the machine didn't operate the first time--didn't know I
knew the energized meter indicators on the unit being used when
x-rays were being generated!).
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The opions expressed above are those of the author alone and do not
not represent those of the Stanford University or the US Department
of Energy.
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