MGD Conversion Factors

MEAN GLANDULAR DOSE CONVERSION FACTORS
 
The estimation of breast dose for patient exposures and using exposures of PMMA phantoms to simulate the breast is a standard part of mammographic quality control.

In the UK, European and IAEA protocols for dosimetry of standard 2D mammography, use is made of conversion factors calculated by Dance and colleagues (Dance 1990; Dance et al 2000, 2009).

More recently, the methodology has been extended for estimation of breast dose for digital tomosynthesis (Dance et al, 2011, EUREF 2014) and for contrast enhanced digital mammography (Dance and Young, 2014).

Conversion factors from the above publications for patient dosimetry and for dosimetry using PMMA phantoms for all three types of examination can be downloaded here. (Data are provided with permission from IOP publishing.)
 

References

Dance D R 1990 Monte Carlo calculation of conversion factors for the estimation of mean glandular breast dose. Phys. Med. Biol. 35 1211-1219.

Dance D R, Skinner C L, Young K C, Beckett J R and Kotre C J 2000. Additional factors for the estimation of mean glandular breast dose using the UK mammography dosimetry protocol Phys. Med. Biol. 45 3225-3240.

Dance D R, Young K C and van Engen R E 2009  Further factors for the estimation of mean glandular dose using the United Kingdom, European and IAEA dosimetry protocols. Phys. Med. Biol  54 4361-72

Dance D R, Young K C and van Engen R E 2011  Estimation of mean glandular dose for breast tomosynthesis: factors for use with the UK, European and IAEA dosimetry protocols. Phys. Med. Biol  56 453-471

Dance D R, Young K C 2014 Estimation of mean glandular dose for contrast enhanced digital mammography: factors for use with the UK, European and IAEA breast dosimetry protocols. Phys. Med. Biol  59 2127-2137

EUREF 2014 Protocol for the Quality Control of the Physical and Technical Aspects of Digital Breast Tomosynthesis Systems Draft version 0.15 January 2014

European guidelines for quality assurance in breast cancer screening and diagnosis. Fourth edition, Supplements. Perry N, Broeders M, de Wolf C, Törnberg S, Holland R, von Karsa L (eds.). European Commission, Office for Official Publications of the European Union, Luxembourg (LINK)

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 2006 Dosimetry in diagnostic radiology: an international code of practice. Technical Reports Series no. 457. (Vienna, Austria: IAEA). http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/TRS457_web.pdf

Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) 2005 The commissioning and routine testing of mammographic X-ray systems. IPEM Report 89 (York, United Kingdom: IPEM)