Comparison of comfort between cone beam breast computed tomography and digital mammography

Purpose: To compare the comfort levels of cone beam breast computed tomography (CBBCT) and digital mammography. Materials and methods: On 409 patients, CBBCT was performed within 1 week after conventional mammography. Patients evaluated their comfort by using an 11-point numerical rating scale (NRS-11) after completing the two examinations. The lower the score was, the more comfortable the examination modality was. The data was divided into different groups according to CBBCT scan mode (non-contrast mode, contrast-enhanced mode), age (<= 44, 45 similar to 59 and >= 60), body mass index (BMI) (< 18.5 kg/m(2), 18.5 similar to 23.9 kg/m(2), 24 similar to 27.9 kg/m(2) and >= 28 kg/m(2)), and breast density (fatty-breast, dense-breast) to evaluate the performance of CBBCT comfort in different groups and to analyse the influencing factor of patient comfort. The paired rank sum test was used to compare the comfort between CBBCT and mammography. Results: Overall, the comfort of CBBCT was better than mammography (P< 0.05). CBBCT was more comfortable than mammography in both non-contrast and contrast-enhanced groups (P < 0.05). CBBCT was more comfortable than mammography in the <= 44, 45 similar to 59 age groups (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the >= 60 age group (P = 0.5433). CBBCT was more comfortable than mammography in the BMI groups of 18.5 similar to 23.9 kg/m(2), 24 similar to 27.9 kg/m(2)and >= 28 kg/m(2) (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the< 18.5 kg/m(2) group (P= 0.43). CBBCT was more comfortable than mammography in both the fatty-breast and dense-breast groups (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The comfort of CBBCT was better than mammography.