X-ray forward-scatter imaging: Experimental validation of model

In our research program we have investigated, through modeling and related numerical calculations, the potential use of scattered photons for medical x-ray imaging. In this work, we present an experimental validation of the primary and of the forward-scatter xray imaging models. Incident polyenergetic photon beams generated from a conventional rotating anode x-ray tube were used. To compare quantitatively the results between primary and forward-scatter imaging, an ionization chamber was used to record the incident air collision kerma, K (air) Plots of contrast (C) and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as a function of the imaging task are presented. We have chosen to make measurements with plastics [polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate, polystyrene, polyethylene, and nylon] placed at the center of a 15 cm diam spherical water phantom. Good agreement between experiment (expt) and prediction (pred) was obtained for many imaging tasks.