Monte Carlo simulation of x-ray scatter based on patient model from digital breast tomosynthesis

We are developing a breast specific scatter correction method for digital beast tomosynthesis (DBT). The 3D breast volume was initially reconstructed from 15 projection images acquired from a GE prototype tomosynthesis system without correction of scatter. The voxel values were mapped to the tissue compositions using various segmentation schemes. This voxelized digital breast model was entered into a Monte Carlo package simulating the prototype tomosynthesis system. One billion photons were generated from the x-ray source for each projection in the simulation and images of scattered photons were obtained. A primary only projection image was then produced by subtracting the scatter image from the corresponding original projection image which contains contributions from the both primary photons and scatter photons. The scatter free projection images were then used to reconstruct the 3D breast using the same algorithm. Compared with the uncorrected 3D image, the x-ray attenuation coefficients represented by the scatter-corrected 3D image are closer to those derived from the measurement data.