Abstract
A precise and thorough methodology is presented for the design and fabrication of bimodal phantoms to be used in medical microwave and ultrasound applications. Dielectric and acoustic properties of human soft tissues were simultaneously mimicked. The phantoms were fabricated using polyvinyl alcohol cryogel (PVA-C) as gelling agent at a 10% concentration. Sucrose was employed to control the dielectric properties in the microwave spectrum, whereas cellulose was used as acoustic scatterer for ultrasound. For the dielectric properties at microwaves, a mathematical model was extracted to calculate the complex permittivity of the desired mimicked tissues in the frequency range from 500 MHz to 20 GHz. This model, dependent on frequency and sucrose concentration, was in good agreement with the reference Cole–Cole model. Regarding the acoustic properties, the speed of sound and attenuation coefficient were employed for validation. In both cases, the experimental data were consistent with the corresponding theoretical values for soft tissues. The characterization of these PVA-C phantoms demonstrated a significant performance for simultaneous microwave and ultrasound operation. In conclusion, PVA-C has been validated as gelling agent for the fabrication of complex multimodal phantoms that mimic soft tissues providing a unique tool to be used in a range of clinical applications.
Highlights
A precise and thorough methodology is presented for the design and fabrication of bimodal phantoms to be used in medical microwave and ultrasound applications
N-propanol and propylene glycol were used to modify the speed of sound; while evaporated milk, cellulose, aluminum oxide ( Al2O3 ), talcum powder, silicon carbide (SiC) and graphite were employed as scattering agents to vary the attenuation[6,29,30]
Glass beads and cellulose were employed as scatterers in polyvinyl alcohol cryogel (PVA-C) p hantoms[7,9] and the main alternatives considered in the present work
Summary
A precise and thorough methodology is presented for the design and fabrication of bimodal phantoms to be used in medical microwave and ultrasound applications. The speed of sound and attenuation coefficient were employed for validation In both cases, the experimental data were consistent with the corresponding theoretical values for soft tissues. An infrared s ensor[13] provides the external temperature by acquiring surface images and anomalous temperature patterns can be detected upon inspection and analysis These specific areas of interest with anomalies are further analyzed by subcutaneous, in-depth temperature measurements using microwave technology guided by US imaging. Our aim is to develop a clinical protocol to detect diabetic neuropathies for a personalised diagnosis and treatment monitoring In this regard, infrared sensors have previously demonstrated their viability to analyze anomalous temperature patterns in diabetic diseases[18,19,20,21,22]
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