Digital mammography image simulation using Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo simulations of digital images of the contrast detail phantom an d the ACR phantom are presented for two different x-ray digital mammography modalities: a synchrotron mammography system and a next-generation scannin g slot clinical system. A combination of variance reduction methods made it possible to simulate accurate images using real pixel dimensions within re asonable computation times. The complete method of image simulation, includ ing a simple detector response model, a simple noise model, and the incorpo ration of system effects (MTF), is presented. The simulated images of the p hantoms show good agreement with images measured on the two systems. (C) 20 00 American Association of Physicists in Medicine. [S0094-2405(00)00603-9].