title: JOURNAL CLUB: Scatter Radiation Dose From Digital Screening Mammography Measured in a Representative Patient Population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to quantify the amount of scatter radiation received at the skin surface overlying the thyroid gland, salivary gland, lens of the eye, sternum, and uterus during a routine screening digital mammographic examination measured in a representative patient population.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects were 207 women without symptoms with varied body mass indexes who underwent annual screening mammography while wearing six optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters placed at the bridge of the nose, right submandibular gland, right and left thyroid lobes, mid sternum, and 2 cm caudal to the umbilicus to assess scatter radiation dose to the skin.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average scatter radiation doses at the skin surface during digital screening mammography in the representative population of women were as follows: overlying the right lobe of the thyroid, 0.24 mGy; left lobe of the thyroid, 0.25 mGy; salivary gland, 0.2 mGy; bridge of the nose, 0.025 mGy; sternum, 0.87 mGy; and umbilicus, 0.011 mGy. The scatter radiation doses at the umbilicus and the bridge of the nose were too low to measure with statistical confidence. Scatter radiation dose increased with increasing body mass index and increasing breast compression thickness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Scatter radiation dose at the skin overlying organs of interest is a small fraction of the entrance skin dose to the breast. The low levels of scatter radiation measured do not support delaying clinically indicated mammography during early pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Radiology, Breast Imaging Division, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, 30 Hope Dr, Ste 1800, EC 008, Hershey, PA 17033-0859.
authors.forename: Alison L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Chetlen
authors.forename: Karen L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Radiology, Division of Health Physics, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA.
authors.forename: Steven H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Radiology, Breast Imaging Division, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, 30 Hope Dr, Ste 1800, EC 008, Hershey, PA 17033-0859.
authors.forename: Claudia J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kasales
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Radiology, Breast Imaging Division, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, 30 Hope Dr, Ste 1800, EC 008, Hershey, PA 17033-0859.
authors.forename: Susann E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Schetter
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Radiology, Breast Imaging Division, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, 30 Hope Dr, Ste 1800, EC 008, Hershey, PA 17033-0859.
authors.forename: Julie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Mack
authors.affiliation: 3 Biostatistics Core, Cancer Institute, Penn State Hershey, Hershey, PA.
authors.forename: Junjia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001940:Breast; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012867:Skin; D013819:Thermoluminescent Dosimetry
keywords: mammography; radiation risk; scatter radiation