Abstract
.SignificanceThe polymer, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), has been increasingly used to make tissue simulating phantoms due to its excellent processability, durability, flexibility, and limited tunability of optical, mechanical, and thermal properties. We report on a robust technique to fabricate PDMS-based tissue-mimicking phantoms where the broad range of scattering and absorption properties are independently adjustable in the visible- to near-infrared wavelength range from 500 to 850 nm. We also report on an analysis method to concisely quantify the phantoms’ broadband characteristics with four parameters.AimWe report on techniques to manufacture and characterize solid tissue-mimicking phantoms of PDMS polymers. Tunability of the absorption () and reduced scattering coefficient spectra () in the wavelength range of 500 to 850 nm is demonstrated by adjusting the concentrations of light absorbing carbon black powder (CBP) and light scattering titanium dioxide powder (TDP) added into the PDMS base material.ApproachThe and of the phantoms were obtained through measurements with a broadband integrating sphere system and by applying an inverse adding doubling algorithm. Analyses of and of the phantoms, by fitting them to linear and power law functions, respectively, demonstrate that independent control of and is possible by systematically varying the concentrations of CBP and TDP.ResultsOur technique quantifies the phantoms with four simple fitting parameters enabling a concise tabulation of their broadband optical properties as well as comparisons to the optical properties of biological tissues. We demonstrate that, to a limited extent, the scattering properties of our phantoms mimic those of human tissues of various types. A possible way to overcome this limitation is demonstrated with phantoms that incorporate polystyrene microbead scatterers.ConclusionsOur manufacturing and analysis techniques may further promote the application of PDMS-based tissue-mimicking phantoms and may enable robust quality control and quality checks of the phantoms.
Highlights
Tissue-mimicking phantoms with well-defined wavelength-dependent absorption and scattering coefficients are essential for the development, calibration, and evaluation of optical medical devices designed to measure the broadband optical properties of tissues.[1,2]
We report a method to analyze the wavelength-dependent absorption and reduced scattering coefficient spectra of phantoms that include carbon black powder (CBP) and titanium dioxide powder (TDP) at various concentration combinations
The curing reagent is added into the suspension and thoroughly mixed with a blade mixer for 30 min followed by further mixing in a rocking mixer for another 1 h
Summary
Tissue-mimicking phantoms with well-defined wavelength-dependent absorption and scattering coefficients are essential for the development, calibration, and evaluation of optical medical devices designed to measure the broadband optical properties of tissues.[1,2] The absorption and scattering coefficients of biological tissues are proportional to the number of photons absorbed or scattered per centimeter of tissue traversed. These coefficients range over several orders of magnitude and are not necessarily correlated with each other, so robust methods to independently control and characterize the wavelength-dependent absorption and scattering coefficients of tissue-mimicking phantoms are crucial.[1]. Sekar et al.[7] demonstrated a recipe to reproducibly fabricate phantoms with room-temperature-vulcanizing silicone that include various concentrations of black silicone pigment (Polycraft Black Silicone Pigment) for applications in the 600- to 1100-nm wavelength (λ) range, commonly used for human organ studies
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