Breast Compression Paddle Jacket for Uniform Mammography Pressure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing breast imaging techniques, such as x-ray mammography and breast tomosynthesis, cause discomfort due to non-uniform compression forces, particularly at the chest wall and anterior portions of the breast, leading to patient discomfort and potential image artifacts.
Innovation Solution
A non-rigid compression paddle system with a movable design and an inflatable or gel pad jacket that redistributes compression forces more uniformly across the breast, using a concave or convex surface configuration to maintain breast tissue within the imaging field and reduce pressure points.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a rigid compression paddle is used to compress the breast, then the breast is immobilized and tissue is spread out for imaging, but the compression force is non-uniformly distributed causing patient discomfort
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional rigid compression paddle with a flexible compression garment that conforms to the breast shape. The garment includes a compression element that applies uniform compressive force across the breast tissue while maintaining immobilization, thereby eliminating pressure concentration points that cause discomfort.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state of the compression interface from rigid to flexible, and introduces adjustable compression levels. The compression garment can be adjusted to provide different compression forces, allowing optimization between immobilization reliability and patient comfort by modifying the compression parameter.
2Quantity of substance
If compression force is increased to ensure complete breast tissue coverage, then more tissue is imaged, but patient discomfort increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible compression garment distributes the compression force uniformly across the entire breast surface, allowing complete tissue coverage to be achieved without concentrating excessive force on specific areas. This enables adequate compression for full tissue imaging while maintaining patient comfort through even force distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The compression garment provides dynamic compression that adapts to the breast shape and size. The flexible material allows the compression force to distribute itself naturally across varying tissue densities and anatomical features, ensuring complete coverage without requiring uniformly high compression levels that would cause discomfort.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a tilting paddle is used to improve compression uniformity, then patient comfort improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the need for complex tilting mechanisms by using a flexible compression garment that naturally conforms to the breast surface. The flexibility of the garment provides automatic adaptation to breast shape, achieving uniform compression without requiring mechanical adjustment systems or complex paddle geometries.
Solution Approach 2:
The compression garment performs the function of adapting to breast shape and providing uniform compression through its inherent flexibility and elastic properties. The material self-adjusts to the patient's anatomy without requiring external control systems, mechanical actuators, or complex positioning mechanisms, thereby simplifying the overall device design.
Data Source
AI summary
An x-ray breast imaging system comprising a compression paddle in which the compression paddle comprises a front wall and a bottom wall. The front wall is configured to be adjacent and face a chest wall of a patient during imaging and the bottom wall configured to be adjacent a length of a top of a compressed breast. The bottom wall extends away from the patient's chest wall, wherein the bottom wall comprises a first portion and a second portion such that the second portion is between the front wall and the first portion. The first portion is generally non-coplanar to the second portion, wherein the compression paddle is movable along a craniocaudal axis. The x-ray breast imaging system also comprises a non-rigid jacket releasably secured to the compression paddle, the non-rigid jacket positioned between the compression paddle and the patient.