VALIDATION OF A SIMULATION PROCEDURE FOR GENERATING BREAST TOMOSYNTHESIS PROJECTION IMAGES.

In order to achieve optimal diagnostic performance in breast tomosynthesis (BT) imaging, the parameters of the imaging chain should be evaluated. For the purpose of such evaluations, a simulation procedure based on the Monte Carlo code system Penelope and the geometry of a Siemens BT system has been developed to generate BT projection images. In this work, the simulation procedure is validated by comparing contrast and sharpness in simulated images with contrast and sharpness in real images acquired with the BT system. The results of the study showed a good agreement of sharpness in real and simulated reconstructed image planes, but the contrast was shown to be higher in the simulated compared with the real projection images. The developed simulation procedure could be used to generate BT images, but it is of interest to further investigate how the procedure could be modified to generate more realistic image noise and contrast.