Relative density measurements in a simple lung phantom by Compton backscatter

Abstract

Compton backscatter of 60 keV γ radiation from a simple lung phantom has been used to measure changes in “lung” density. It was shown how introduction of a small volume of air can increase as well as decrease the count. Radiation scattered from the “chest wall” was prevented from entering the detector by careful choice of geometry. The remaining count increased linearly with “lung” density. The relative increase of count rate with density was entirely independent of “chest wall” thickness. With our apparatus a change of 0.01 kg/L in “lung” density produced a change in count rate of 2.2%.