What is the role of compression in mammography aside from improving image quality?

Compression in mammography plays a crucial role beyond just enhancing image quality. By allowing for more uniform breast tissue distribution, compression aids in reducing motion artifacts and overlapping structures. This uniform distribution of breast tissue helps to create a more consistent and accurate representation of the breast, allowing radiologists to detect abnormalities more effectively.

When the tissue is evenly spread out, it can reduce the chances of lesions being obscured by denser areas of tissue. This is particularly important because densely packed breast tissue can make it more difficult to identify tumors or other issues. The compression applied during the mammography procedure ensures that all areas of the breast are adequately imaged, thus improving diagnostic accuracy and lowering false-negative rates.

While aspects such as minimizing dose and enhancing patient comfort are important, uniform tissue distribution is fundamental for achieving the best results in breast imaging, making it a key advantage of compression during the mammography process.