Measurement of scatter in x-ray imaging

In a medical diagnosis x-ray imaging system with scatter radiation effects, the system is described having an x-ray source transmitting a collimated beam through a first object for producing a first intensity image onto an image detector, a method for calibrating the first intensity image by measuring a scatter radiation intensity image comprising the steps of: (A) positioning second objects in the collimated beam to attenuate corresponding dispersed areas of the beam to produce a second intensity image on the image detector, the attenuation of each of the second objects being less than 100 percent in the x-ray frequency spectrum; (B) replacing second objects with a uniform sheet of material of identical composition and areal density as the second objects to produce a third image intensity onto the image detector; (C) generating the scatter radiation intensity image from the first, second and third intensity images; and (D) subtracting the scatter radiation intensity image from the first intensity image to remove any scattering effects in order to calibrate the first intensity image