Mechanical and Imaging Properties of a Clinical-Grade Kidney Phantom Based on Polydimethylsiloxane and Elastomer.

Izdihar Kamal,Syamsiah Mashohor,Nur Athirah Syima Mohd Rafi,Hairil Rashmizal Abdul Razak,Mazlan Norkhairunnisa,Muhammad Khalis Abdul Karim,Yiin Jian Low,Josephine Ying Chyi Liew,Nur Atiqah Zaaba

doi:10.3390/polym14030535

Izdihar Kamal, Syamsiah Mashohor + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14030535

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Abstract

Medical imaging phantoms are considered critical in mimicking the properties of human tissue for calibration, training, surgical planning, and simulation purposes. Hence, the stability and accuracy of the imaging phantom play a significant role in diagnostic imaging. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of hydrogen silicone (HS) and water (H2O) on the compression strength, radiation attenuation properties, and computed tomography (CT) number of the blended Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) samples, and to verify the best material to simulate kidney tissue. Four samples with different compositions were studied, including samples S1, S2, S3, and S4, which consisted of PDMS 100%, HS/PDMS 20:80, H2O/PDMS 20:80, and HS/H2O/PDMS 20:40:40, respectively. The stability of the samples was assessed using compression testing, and the attenuation properties of sample S2 were evaluated. The effective atomic number of S2 showed a similar pattern to the human kidney tissue at 1.50 × 10−1 to 1 MeV. With the use of a 120 kVp X-ray beam, the CT number quantified for S2, as well measured 40 HU, and had the highest contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) value. Therefore, the S2 sample formulation exhibited the potential to mimic the human kidney, as it has a similar dynamic and is higher in terms of stability as a medical phantom.

Highlights

Medical imaging has proven its critical role in the healthcare field due to its ability to act as a valuable tool in diagnosis, therapy, surgical planning, postoperative assessment, and planning in radiotherapy treatment [1]
In the computed tomography (CT) examination, the standardization of CT pixel values with the Hounsfield Unit (HU) acts as vital measure to characterize tissue density, which is a vital component of quantitative imaging application [6,7]
This study proposes the potential of a blend of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a base of the kidney phantom material

Summary

Introduction

Medical imaging has proven its critical role in the healthcare field due to its ability to act as a valuable tool in diagnosis, therapy, surgical planning, postoperative assessment, and planning in radiotherapy treatment [1]. A large volume of cases received daily tends to lead to errors, which may later cause misdiagnosis in patients [2]. This amenable side of medical imaging has been compensated with the introduction of quantitative imaging. The growing need to employ quantitative imaging in clinical settings has motivated the study on the development of imaging phantoms [4,5]. This study presented the threshold values of radiation attenuation by the anthropomorphic phantom sample, including image quality, for a better understanding of the performance

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