Patent ID: 7940889

Claim:
A method to generate a mammographic image, comprising the steps of: placing a breast between a compression plate and a support plate; compressing the breast between said compression plate and said support plate with a first degree of compression, and with an x-ray imaging system positioned in an imaging position relative to the breast, irradiating the breast, compressed with said first degree of compression, with x-rays and detecting x-rays attenuated by the breast, with said first degree of compression, to acquire a first image data set; compressing the breast between the compression plate and the support plate with a second degree of compression, different from said first degree of compression, and without re-positioning said x-ray imaging system from said imaging position, irradiating the breast compressed with said second degree of compression with x-rays and detecting x-rays attenuated by the breast with said second degree of compression to acquire a second image data set; and in a processor, computationally combining said first and second image data sets to generate a diagnostic image data set, representing a diagnostic image of the breast, as an output from said processor.