Monte Carlo simulation of x-ray scattering for quantitative characterization of breast cancer

In the last decade there has been growing interest in the possibility of characterizing breast cancer using differences in the coherent x-ray-scattering profiles of normal and malignant tissues. To a great extent, characterization has depended on the differences in the peak positions of both tissues in addition to the overall profile which exhibits a distinctive sharp adipose peak in the case of a normal breast. In many excised tissue samples, breast cancer samples may be mixed with a variable percentage of other tissues which affect the shape of the x-ray-scattering profile and consequently the ability to characterize the tissue. Moreover, fibroglandular tissue produces a scattering profile showing an extent of similarity to breast cancer. The present study introduces a Monte Carlo simulation code capable of tracing photon transport inside a mixed two-component sample. The code is utilized to simulate and best fit x-ray-scattering profiles of the measured samples. This provides reliable breast tissue characterization in addition to a quantitative estimate of the percentage of each component in a given sample. It is expected that the present simulation would potentially enhance the characterization of breast cancer using the x-ray-scattering technique.