Development and Evaluation of Doppler Ultrasound Training Phantom for Human Vessel Simulation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to create a Doppler ultrasound training phantom aimed at aiding beginners in comprehending and effectively utilizing critical parameters during the learning process. Our designed training phantom does not require the use of a water pump or an automated injector. The fabrication of the vessel-mimicking phantom was accomplished using agarose gel. We utilized LEGO blocks to introduce a height difference that simulated blood flow within the phantom. The imitation blood material was prepared using glycerin. Ultrasound images were obtained using an Accuvix V10 device. This study utilized a Doppler ultrasound training phantom to facilitate stable imaging for beginners during scanning, due to its secure fixation. Furthermore, the fabricated vessel-mimicking phantom offers the advantage of adjusting the diameter of vessels during the fabrication process. Additionally, the easy adaptability, to tailor the phantom specifically for certain conditions by modifying only the vascular components, is another notable advantage. The experimental values for parameters such as the color box, scale, and color gain were collected. The spectral Doppler was used for a rough assessment of blood flow velocity. Color Doppler images, acquired via adjusting the color box to the left and right, displayed blood flow information in blue on the left, and red on the right. At a scale setting of 4 kHz and 0.6 kHz for color Doppler imaging, aliasing was absent at 4 kHz, but appeared at 0.6 kHz. Experiments involving various gain settings (2 dB, 5 dB, 10 dB, 35 dB, 60 dB, and 100 dB) demonstrated that the blood flow information was diminished at 2 dB, and exaggerated at 100 dB.