In mammography, if medial breast tissue is poorly imaged or missed on the MLO projection, what is likely the outcome?

In mammography, if medial breast tissue is poorly imaged or missed on the mediolateral oblique (MLO) projection, it results in inadequate visualization of that area of the breast. The MLO view is designed to demonstrate both the medial and lateral aspects of the breast, but when the medial tissue is obscured or not captured clearly, it leads to an underrepresentation of the structures and potential lesions present in that area.

This underrepresentation can significantly impact the diagnostic accuracy of mammography, as lesions that are located in the medial aspect of the breast may not be detected, increasing the risk of missed diagnoses. If clinicians are unaware that this tissue is not well imaged, they may mistakenly assess the overall health of the breast without acknowledging that some important areas may have been overlooked.

In contrast, other outcomes such as the appearance of lesions or the representation of fatty versus dense tissue are not directly caused by poor imaging of the medial tissue but rather affect how images are interpreted or shown. Therefore, the most accurate outcome in this scenario is that the medial breast tissue will indeed be underrepresented.