Measurements of X-ray scatter signatures for some tissue-equivalent materials

In this work, we have measured the angular distribution of photons scattered (scattering signature) by five tissue-equivalent materials used in mammography and conventional radiology and four samples used in bone densitometry at the photon energy 17.44 keV using a X-ray tube equipped with a graphite monochromator, a goniometer system and a NaI detector. Results from the tissue-equivalent materials scattering signatures have been compared with previous results for human tissues (adipose, glandular, muscle and bone). The scattering profiles obtained with tissue-equivalent materials are different from those obtained with human tissue. These differences are due to intermolecular correlation on the elastic scattering. Some tissue-equivalent materials present some very sharp peaks, absent in real soft human tissue. These results suggest that a careful analysis of the scattering properties must be done in order to use tissue-equivalent material to simulate human tissues