# A Simulation Framework for X-Ray Phase-Contrast Imaging

> **NIH NIH R03** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2021 · $179,294

## Abstract

X-ray phase-contrast imaging (XPCI) can dramatically improve soft tissue contrast in X-ray
medical imaging. Despite worldwide efforts to develop novel XPCI systems, we do not yet have
a numerical framework to rigorously predict the performance of a clinical XPCI system at a
human scale. In this study, we propose to develop such a simulation framework to accomplish
this using the breakthroughs in two main components: a realistic human-scaled numerical
phantom for XPCI, and a wave optics-based simulator for accurately propagating X-ray wave
through a realistic human numerical phantom.
For the numerical phantom, the biggest challenges are to incorporate various organs with multi-
scale structures in a human-size phantom and to define material properties for human body
parts under normal and a variety of pathophysiological conditions. To address these issues, we
will extend the XCAT phantom, a human phantom that is widely used in medical imaging
simulation, to incorporate sub-organ structures and tissue textures, and to assign appropriate
material properties to various tissues for XPCI simulation.
For the simulator, we have recently demonstrated the possibility of XPCI simulation at a human
scale by applying a wave optics-based imaging model to XCAT phantom. In the proposed
project, we will develop a general-purpose XPCI simulator that can be used with variety of
geometries, X-ray optics, and tissue models. Using the data we have already acquired on a
synchrotron-based, high-performance XPCI setup, we will validate the simulator so that its
predictions match experimentally acquired data. Finally, we will distribute the program with a
graphical user interface in order that the users can easily simulate their own XPCI systems.
Source codes and a detailed user manual will be distributed as well.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10289325
- **Project number:** 1R03EB032038-01
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Rajiv Gupta
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $179,294
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10289325

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10289325, A Simulation Framework for X-Ray Phase-Contrast Imaging (1R03EB032038-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10289325. Licensed CC0.

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