Spherical lesion phantoms for testing the performance of elastography systems

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Elastography systems require standardized phantoms for performance evaluation.
• Existing phantoms may lack stability or accurate tissue property mimicry.
• Comparing lesion detection capabilities across different elastography systems is crucial for clinical adoption.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and characterize novel phantoms for comparing elastography system performance.
• To create stable, tissue-mimicking phantoms with controlled elastic properties and simulated lesions.
• To assess the lesion detection capabilities of ultrasound elastography systems using these phantoms.

Main Methods:

• Three cubic, one-litre phantoms were fabricated using agar-gelatin and oil-in-gelatin materials.
• Phantoms contain spherical simulated lesions (1.6 mm to 4 mm diameter) at varying elastic contrasts (3.3, 4.6, 5.5).
• Ultrasound elastography was performed on the phantoms using two systems operating at ~7.5 MHz, focused at ~5 cm.

Main Results:

• The phantoms demonstrated stable geometric and elastic properties, mimicking soft tissues.
• Neither ultrasound system could detect the 1.6 mm lesions.
• System performance differences in detecting larger lesions were quantified.

Conclusions:

• The developed phantoms are suitable for research labs refining elastography hardware and software.
• These phantoms facilitate standardized comparison of lesion detection performance in elastography.
• Further research is needed to improve detection of small lesions (<1.6 mm) in elastography.