A MODULAR PHANTOM FOR DIGITAL TOMOSYNTHESIS X-RAY UNITS

A phantom designed for the performance evaluation of digital tomosynth esis (DTS) systems is presented. Such a tomographic imaging modality w as built on our radiotherapy simulator on the basis of the multiple pr ojection algorithm (MPA). Concurrently, a modular phantom has been des igned and constructed in order to: (a) test the validity of the algori thm and explore its spatial tolerances as to the location and inclinat ion of the plane of reconstruction, (b) investigate the effect of the sampling geometry on the characteristics of the reconstructed image, ( c) evaluate the effectiveness of tomographic noise removal algorithms, and (d) test the accuracy of the plane identification software tool. A reference is made to the design requirements, followed by a descript ion of the phantom, as well as a report on its performance, in a limit ed number of applications.