Mammography Compression Plate Chest Wall Face Roughness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional transparent resin compression plates used in mammography tend to stick to the skin of the chest wall, causing discomfort and potential skin damage when moved down, as their smooth surface leads to skin pulling and peeling.
Innovation Solution
The compression plate features a chest wall face with increased surface roughness compared to its compression face, specifically designed to reduce skin contact and discomfort by incorporating regions with surface roughness between 0.1 μm to 2 μm, preventing the plate from adhering to the skin during movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the compression plate has a smooth surface, then it provides good compression contact with the breast, but it sticks to the skin of the chest wall causing pain and skin damage
Solution Approach 1:
The compression plate applies different surface roughness to different regions: the breast compression surface remains smooth for good contact, while the chest wall contact surface has increased roughness (0.1-2 μm) to prevent skin adhesion. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by optimizing each surface for its specific function.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the surface roughness parameter of the chest wall face from smooth (conventional) to a controlled rough range of 0.1-2 μm. This parameter modification reduces the adhesion force between the plate and skin, preventing pain and skin damage while maintaining compression effectiveness.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the compression plate surface is made rougher to prevent sticking, then skin adhesion is reduced, but compression effectiveness may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Different surface qualities are applied to different functional regions: the breast compression surface maintains smoothness for optimal contact and compression, while only the chest wall face receives the rougher treatment (0.1-2 μm) needed to prevent skin adhesion during plate movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The compression plate surface is segmented into functionally distinct zones with different roughness characteristics. The chest wall face is separated from the breast compression surface, allowing independent optimization of each region's surface properties for its specific purpose.
3Ease of operation
If the compression plate moves down to compress the breast, then imaging positioning is achieved, but skin pulling and peeling occurs causing pain
Solution Approach 1:
The roughened chest wall surface (0.1-2 μm) creates a preliminary anti-adhesion effect that counteracts the sticking tendency before the plate moves down. This preliminary protective measure prevents skin pulling and peeling during the compression positioning movement, eliminating pain while maintaining operational effectiveness.
Data Source
AI summary
According to one embodiment, a compression plate compresses a breast of a subject with the breast between the compression plate and an imaging plane of an imaging table. The compression plate including a compression face and a chest wall face. The compression face is configured to compress the breast to the imaging table. The chest wall face is configured continuously from the compression face to be in contact with a chest wall of the subject during X-ray imaging. The chest wall face includes a second region which is in contact with the chest wall of the subject, and the second region has surface roughness which is greater than that of a first region of the compression face, which is opposed to the imaging table.