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Calculated mammographic spectra confirmed with attenuation curves for molybdenum, rhodium, and tungsten targets
Author(s) -
Blough Melissa M.,
Waggener Robert G.,
Payne William H.,
Terry James A.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.598340
Subject(s) - rhodium , molybdenum , tungsten , attenuation , spectral line , materials science , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemistry , optics , physics , metallurgy , biochemistry , chromatography , astronomy , catalysis
A model for calculating mammographic spectra independent of measured data and fitting parameters is presented. This model is based on first principles. Spectra were calculated using various target and filter combinations such as molybdenum/molybdenum, molybdenum/rhodium, rhodium/rhodium, and tungsten/aluminum. Once the spectra were calculated, attenuation curves were calculated and compared to measured attenuation curves. The attenuation curves were calculated and measured using aluminum alloy 1100 or high purity aluminum filtration. Percent differences were computed between the measured and calculated attenuation curves resulting in an average of 5.21% difference for tungsten/aluminum, 2.26% for molybdenum/molybdenum, 3.35% for rhodium/rhodium, and 3.18% for molybdenum/rhodium. Calculated spectra were also compared to measured spectra from the Food and Drug Administration [Fewell and Shuping, Handbook of Mammographic X‐ray Spectra (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1979)] and a comparison will also be presented.