This invention is a model of the human breast specifically formulated to simulate its x ray properties, and more specifically contains two separate materials to simulate the skin and underlying tissue.
Mammography phantoms are used as quality control test objects to evaluate x ray imaging systems. Phantoms are also used in various research and educational applications.
A major problem with phantoms is that they are made of materials which do not simulate the radiographic properties of breast tissue. A typical phantom is fabricated of a material scaled in size to match a single radiographic property of the modeled tissue, that is, linear attenuation. Sizing in this manner produces a limited purpose phantom and a poor representation of a breast. What is required is a phantom that will produce a more realistic x ray image of a breast and of its common anomalies such as masses, fibers and calcifications, so that an operator in training need not develop one set of mental images for the test object and another for actual breasts.