Evaluation of the entrance surface air kerma in mammographic examinations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The aim of this work was to evaluate the distribution of the entrance surface air kerma (ESAK) and the average glandular dose (D-G) in four mammography facilities located in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The ESAK values were estimated from the X-ray tube output rate (mGy/mAs) parameters. The image quality was evaluated by the radiologists in each clinic. The ESAK values obtained for a breast thickness of 45 mm were 5.58 mGy in Clinic A, 10.07 mGy in Clinic B, 13.89 mGy in Clinic C and 7.21 mGy in Clinic D. For D-G, it can be seen that, for the same compressed breast thickness (50 mm), the value varied from 0.20 to 3.60 mGy, with a mean value of 1.50 mGy for all the clinics. In image quality evaluation, Clinic D was the only one that presented a very low acceptability for quality criteria and inadequacies in relation to specks, masses and optical density.