Linear model for the scattered radiation distribution in digital chest radiographs

We propose an empirical linear model for the scattered radiation distribution in chest radiographs in order to compensate digital x-ray images for the presence of radiation scatter. The total detected intensity distribution is convolved with two different convolution kernels and radiation scatter is modelled as the weighted sum of the two convolutions plus a constant factor. The weighting factors and the constant factor are optimized for a specific chest radiograph. This can be done by sampling the scattered radiation distribution in a limited area of the radiographic image. The scatter values are then used to determine the factors with a standard linear least squares technique. Another way to determine the factors is by utilizing lookup tables (LUTs), giving the relationship between the factors and the acquisition parameters. These LUTs are constructed with data from previous cases. We give some preliminary results and compare the model with some other convolution based models.