Patent ID: 7978812

Claim:
A mammography apparatus comprising: an x-ray source that emits an x-ray beam; a support plate configured to support a breast thereon within said x-ray beam; a radiation detector disposed to detect radiation in said x-ray beam after penetrating the breast on the support plate; a compression device configured to compress the breast against said support plate, said compression device comprising a frame that defines an open frame interior and that is mounted for movement relative to said support plate, a non-rigid, elastic membrane that is impermeable to air and that has a membrane periphery and spanning said open frame interior and being attached to said frame only at said membrane periphery and being otherwise unhindered by said frame, said membrane and said frame forming an airtight space, and said frame being configured to two-dimensionally stretch said elastic membrane over and in conformity to the breast in order to compress the breast on the support plate solely by the elastic membrane; said compression device comprising a negative pressure generator that generates a negative pressure in said space to intensify a compression pressure applied to the breast by the membrane.