Simulação dos perfis de espalhamento elástico de tecidos mamários e materiais equivalentes por código Monte Carlo

Abstract

In radiodiagnostics, such as mammograms, it is common to consider that scattered radiation is a problem because it degrades the contrast of the image. However, recent studies have shown that it is possible to identify the presence of abnormalities in a biological tissue, from the angular distribution of scattered photons (scattering profile), which provide detailed information on the structural composition of the tissue. Basic studies of this type have been used for computational simulation, due to the difficulties and limitations, both in obtaining, storing and manipulating the samples, as well as in the experimental instrumentation, besides the ethical issues involved. In this work, the elastic scattering profiles of normal and pathological mammary tissues, and the materials equivalent to these tissues, were simulated in the region of intermediate angles, called WAXS (Wide Angle X-ray Scattering). This structure responsible for scattering at the molecular level. For the computational simulation of the scattering profiles was used the Monte Carlo code, with the aid of the MC-GPU software. Its differential in relation to other codes for simulation of profiles in the WAXS region is the possibility of including experimentally measured form factors, which encompass the Molecular Interference Function, instead of only the form factors calculated using the Independent Atomic Model. Two cylindrical virtual phantoms were constructed with internal cylindrical inserts filled with the following materials: adipose tissue, glandular tissue, water, dimethylformamide, ethanol, glycerol and nylon, composing 27 combinations, with specific simulations in each one. These materials were chosen because they presented attenuation characteristics similar to the normal and pathological mammary tissues in the energy used. A monoenergetic photon beam (Kα-Cu = 8.54 keV) and a two-dimensional detector were used. The scattering patterns obtained were integrated to obtain the scattering profiles. The results with the virtual phantoms were very similar to those reported in the literature for each of the pure materials inserted in the phantoms. Thus, this work demonstrated the possibility of including the experimental form factors of each material in the simulations of the scattering profiles of the normal and pathological breast phantom, obtaining more realistic results and cataloging the results in a way that can be used as a database in future work. Therefore, although preliminary, the results of this work corroborate the exploration of new breast imaging techniques based on elastic X-ray scattering.