Abstract
Tissue simulating phantoms provide a valuable platform for quantitative evaluation of the performance of diffuse optical devices. In this paper we report the development of a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) tissue phantom that mimics the spectral characteristics of tissue water. We have developed these phantoms to mimic different water fractions in tissue for testing new devices within the context of clinical applications such as burn wound triage. Compared to liquid phantoms, PDMS phantoms are easier to transport and use, and have a longer usable life than gelatin based phantoms. The pthalocyanine dye 9606 was used to provide an absorption feature of in the vicinity of 970 nm. Scattering properties were independently determined by adding titanium dioxide powder to obtain reduced scattering coefficients similar to that of tissue in the near infrared. Phantom properties were characterized using the techniques of inverse adding doubling and spatial frequency domain imaging. Results presented here demonstrate that we can fabricate solid phantoms that can be used to simulate different water fractions.
Highlights
Biomedical diffuse optical imaging systems require tissue phantoms that mimic the optical properties of tissue for their development, characterization and calibration
The thin discs were measured using the technique of inverse adding-doubling (IAD)[26]
The peak at 915 nm corresponds to an absorption peak arising from the PDMS itself that is not apparent in the spectrophotometer measurements because a matched sample of silicone without dye was placed in the reference arm
Summary
Biomedical diffuse optical imaging systems require tissue phantoms that mimic the optical properties of tissue for their development, characterization and calibration. Quarto et al.[10] investigated three phantom types that enabled the relative fractions of fat and water to be varied, including the emulsion system described by Merritt et al They reported that for this recipe the reduced scattering was exceptionally high – almost an order of magnitude larger than skin. It could be reduced somewhat by lowering the amount of the emulsifying agent but this reduced the stability of the emulsions and they would only last a few hours before separating. Decreasing the water fraction increases the lipid content increasing the scattering
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