What is the patient dose in mammography per view approximately?

• A. ESE approx 800 mR/view
• B. 100 mR/view
• C. 50 mR/view
• D. 1200 mR/view

Answer: (A)

In mammography, the patient dose per projection is described by the entrance skin exposure (ESE). This metric reflects the amount of radiation delivered to the breast for each view and is influenced by how the breast is compressed, the filtration and energy of the x-ray beam, and the exposure factors used to obtain a readable image. For typical screen‑film mammography with standard compression and technique, the ESE per view is on the order of hundreds of milliroentgens, commonly around 800 mR per view. This level represents a balance between producing sufficient image quality for diagnosis and keeping exposure as low as reasonably achievable. Values much lower would risk underexposure and poor image quality, while values much higher would mean unnecessary dose to the patient. Remember that the glandular dose and the overall risk depend on beam quality and breast composition, but 800 mR per view has been used as a representative per-view dose in many guidelines.