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 ?2 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 ?2 test being almost 1 for all the cases. However, minor differences between the simulated spectra and the 'standard' ones are observed.
| Original language | English |
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| Pages (from-to) | 1309-1318 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Physics in Medicine and Biology |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Publication status | Published - May 2000 |