title: Monte Carlo simulation of x-ray spectra in mammography.
abstract: A model for generating x-ray spectra in mammography is presented. This model used the ITS version 3 Monte Carlo code for simulating the radiation transport. Various target/filter combinations such as tungsten/aluminium, molybdenum/molybdenum, molybdenum/rhodium and rhodium/rhodium were used in the simulation. Both bremsstrahlung and characteristic x-ray production were included in the model. The simulated x-ray emission spectra were compared with two sets of spectra, those of Boone et al (1997 Med. Phys. 24 1863-74) and IPEM report 78. The chi2 test was used for the overall goodness of fit of the spectral data. There is good agreement between the simulated x-ray spectra and the comparison spectra as the test yielded a probability value of nearly 1. When the transmitted x-ray spectra for specific target/filter combinations were generated and compared with a measured molybdenum/rhodium spectrum and spectra generated in IPEM report 78, close agreement is also observed. This was demonstrated by the probability value for the chi2 test being almost 1 for all the cases. However, minor differences between the simulated spectra and the 'standard' ones are observed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Optometry and Radiography, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, People's Republic of China. benngkp@netvigator.com
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Kwok
authors.forename: F H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D005260:Female; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008670:Metals; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation; D014965:X-Rays
chemical_list: D008670:Metals