X-ray scatter data for diagnostic radiology.

The ratio of the scattered to the total X-ray fluence (scatter fraction) at the centre of the image plane for X-rays transmitted through polystyrene phantoms has been measured for X-ray energies of 32 and 69 keV, X-ray beam diameters from 4 to 40 cm, phantom thicknesses from 5 to 30 cm and phantom-to-image-plane separations from 0.3 to 40 cm. The experimental values for this ratio have less than a 10% variation for these two X-ray energies and the experimental data show good agreement with Monte Carlo calculations and available experimental results for low atomic number materials. Based on these results, simple curves are generated which give estimates (+/- 10%) of the scatter fraction for all combinations of the geometric parameters encountered in diagnostic radiology.