Patent ID: 8194819

Claim:
A mammography method to generate x-ray images of both breasts of a patient, comprising the steps of: providing a support unit with two x-ray detectors on opposite sides of the support unit, each of said x-ray detectors having a radiation detection surface that is flat, with the respective radiation detection surfaces being parallel to each other and facing away from each other; relatively positioning a patient and said support unit to cause said support unit to be located between the breasts of the patient with the detection surfaces being respectively adjacent the respective breasts of the patient; compressing each breast of the patient against the respective detection surface adjacent thereto; and exposing the breasts of the patient to x-ray radiation while both breasts are simultaneously pressed against the respective detection surfaces, and acquiring image data from each breast with the respective x-ray detectors, and emitting said image data at respective outputs of the respective x-ray detectors.