ESRF Experiment title: Effect of synchrotron radiation on image quality and dose in mammography Experiment number: LS-1240 Beamline: ID17 Date of experiment: from: 27 jan 1999 to: 31 jan 1999 Date of report: 25 aug 1999 Shifts: 12 Local contact(s): Stefan Fiedler Received at ESRF: Names and affiliations of applicants (* indicates experimentalists): * R. Moeckli, Institut de Radiophysique Appliquée, Lausanne F.R. Verdun, IRA, Lausanne J.-F. Valley, IRA, Lausanne * S. Fiedler, ESRF, Grenoble C. Hessler, Service de Radiodiagnostic, CHUV, Lausanne J.-F. Le Bas, Unité IRM, CHU, Grenoble * M. Pachoud, IRA, Lausanne A.-M. Charvet, ESRF, Grenoble H. Elleaume, ESRF, Grenoble Report: Introduction The aim of the experiment was to continue the study of the effect of monochromatic x- ray beams on image quality and dose in a context of patient dose optimisation in the field of mammography. The quality of the beam has been greatly improved by the ID17 staff. Simultaneously, we have developed a method which allows to remove an important part of the local homogeneities due to phase contrast on the image. As a result, the objective evaluation of image quality became feasible. The results clearly demonstrate the advantage of a monochromatic synchrotron irradiation to a conventional spectrum in mammography. Material and method Test object and detector The test object simulates an average dense breast of 50 mm thickness. Its surface is 12 x 15 cm 2 (Hessler 1985).The detector used was a Kodak MinR 2190 - MinR 2000 screen- film system. Synchrotron set-up The harmonics were rejected by means of a Platinum mirror (resulting in a harmonics