Wave-optics simulation of grating-based X-ray phase-contrast imaging using 4D Mouse Whole Body (MOBY) phantom.

PURPOSE Demonstrate realistic simulation of grating-based X-ray phase-contrast imaging (GB-XPCI) using wave optics and the 4D Mouse Whole Body (MOBY) phantom defined with non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS). METHODS We use a full-wave approach, which uses wave optics for X-ray wave propagation from the source to the detector. This forward imaging model can be directly applied to NURBS-defined numerical phantoms such as MOBY. We assign the material properties (attenuation coefficient and electron density) of each model part using the data for adult human tissues. The Poisson noise is added to the simulated images based on the calculated photon flux at each pixel. RESULTS We simulate the intensity images of the MOBY phantom for 8 different grating positions. From the simulated images, we calculate the absorption, differential phase, and normalized visibility contrast images. We also predict how the image quality is affected by different exposure times. CONCLUSIONS GB-XPCI can be simulated with the full-wave approach and a realistic numerical phantom defined with NURBS.