Digital mammography image simulation using Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo simulations of digital images of the contrast detail phantom and the ACR phantom are presented for two different x-ray digital mammography modalities: a synchrotron mammography system and a next-generation scanning slot clinical system. A combination of variance reduction methods made it possible to simulate accurate images using real pixel dimensions within reasonable computation times. The complete method of image simulation, including a simple detector response model, a simple noise model, and the incorporation of system effects (MTF), is presented. The simulated images of the phantoms show good agreement with images measured on the two systems.