Advantage of the heel effect?

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The heel effect is the variation in X‑ray beam intensity across the field caused by the angled anode and self-attenuation within the anode. This makes the beam stronger on the cathode side (toward the chest) and weaker on the anode side (toward the outer breast). In mammography, this is advantageous because the breast is thicker near the chest wall. By orienting the breast so the thicker portion sits toward the cathode side, the higher intensity there helps compensate for attenuation, producing a more uniform exposure and image density without increasing the overall dose. The other options don’t describe this benefit: the heel effect does not give uniform intensity across the field, it does not inherently improve edge resolution, and it does not require longer exposure time as an advantage.