the prominent heel effect in mammography is due to a
Heel effect In X-ray tubes, the heel effect or more accurately, the anode heel effect is a variation of the intensity of X-rays emitted by the anode depending on the direction of emission. Due to the geometry of the anode, X-rays emitted towards the cathode are in general more intense than those emitted perpendicular to the cathodeâ€“anode axis. The effect stems from the absorption of X-ray photons before they leave the anode in which they are produced. The probability of absorption depends on the distance the photons travel within the anode material, which in turn depends on the direction of emission.[1][2]
Thorax The anatomy of the chest can also be described through the use of anatomical landmarks. The nipple in the male is situated in front of the fourth rib or a little below; vertically it lies a little external to a line drawn down from the middle of the clavicle; in the female it is not so constant. A little below it the lower limit of the great pectoral muscle is seen running upward and outward to the axilla; in the female this is obscured by the breast, which extends from the second to the sixth rib vertically and from the edge of the sternum to the mid-axillary line laterally. The female nipple is surrounded for half an inch by a more or less pigmented disc, the areola. The apex of a normal heart is in the fifth left intercostal space, three and a half inches from the mid-line.