ABSTRACT
This Chapter focuses on X-ray phase-contrast mammography (PCM)—a quite X-ray imaging technology that has been developed to overcome the insufficient image contrast of the X-ray absorption contrast mammography. Refraction contrast of X-rays was demonstrated in early experiments where conventional tube sources were used. The gratings are held rigidly, but the source is moved by guiding the electron beam of the X-ray tube by a magnetic field. In the clinical study, the selection of X-ray energy for each procedure was evaluated for the different breast thickness and glandularity classes using a set of standard slabs simulating breast tissue. Mean glandular dose is the radiation dose quantity that is considered to represent the carcinogenic risk from an X-ray mammography examination. Efforts in the development of planar PCM were continued at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France. The need to develop a clinical source capable of analyzer-based imaging PCM was pursued and reported by C. Parham et al.
