Simulation of chest posteroanterior x-ray procedure using stylized phantom and Monte Carlo method

Abstract

We simulate computational chest phantom for diagnostic chest x-ray imaging using PHITS. The phantom includes the heart, lungs, ribs, spine, and sternum. The material composition and dimension of the phantoms are based on the ICRP Publication 89 and Dongyoul Lee's study, respectively. We use x-ray spectral data of 120 kVp from Birch and Marshall to simulate the interaction of x-ray with the phantom. The chest PA x-ray image from our simulation shows the shape and position of the organs and bones in the chest phantom. The grayscale reflects the organ dose of x-ray radiation, providing an estimate of the radiation dose received by a patient's organs during a real x-ray procedure. The organ dose of the lungs and heart are 0.64 mGy and 0.72 mGy, respectively. The study demonstrates the potential of using computational chest phantoms and Monte Carlo simulation to provide a better understanding of gaining a good quality image without compromising the safety of the patient.