title: X-ray characterization of breast phantom materials.
abstract: A pulse-height spectroscopic technique is used to measure the linear attenuation coefficients of commercially available composite phantom materials designed to simulate the attenuation characteristics of breast fat and breast glandular tissue. The manufacturers have specified the composition of these materials with the goal of matching the linear attenuation coefficients of breast tissues, calculated using the mixture rule. Over the energy range 18 to 100 keV, measurements from these materials are in close agreement with manufacturers' predictions and with previously measured linear attenuation coefficients of breast tissue samples.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biophysics and Radiology, University of Toronto and Imaging Research, Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Byng
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Mainprize
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Yaffe
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000535:Aluminum; D016477:Artifacts; D001940:Breast / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014965:X-Rays
chemical_list: D000535:Aluminum