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Design, Implementation, and Validation of a Pulsatile Heart Phantom Pump
Volkan Tuncay1, Jan Zijlstra2, Matthijs Oudkerk1
1Center for Medical Imaging - North East Netherlands (CMI-NEN), University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, PO BOX 30001, NL-9700 RB, Groningen, Netherlands.
Journal of Digital Imaging
|August 12, 2020
Summary
Researchers developed an affordable pulsatile heart phantom pump for validating medical imaging techniques like Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance (MR). While successful at specific settings, further development is needed for variable flow rates.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Medical Imaging Physics
Background:
- Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance (MR) enable in vivo blood flow visualization.
- Validation of these imaging techniques requires controllable systems generating pulsatile flow.
- A gold standard for blood flow measurement validation is currently lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an affordable pulsatile pump and artificial circulatory system.
- To simulate human blood flow patterns for validation purposes.
- To meet prerequisites of variable stroke volume (40-120 ml/beat) and heart rate (60-170 bpm).
Main Methods:
- Designed and constructed a pulsatile pump and artificial circulatory system.
- Integrated the system for testing with a Computed Tomography (CT) scanner.
- Analyzed image intensity to create a washout profile for flow assessment.
Main Results:
- The pulsatile phantom system was successfully tested at 70 bpm and 68 ml stroke volume.
- The system demonstrated proof of concept for pulsatile flow simulation.
- Failures occurred at various heart rates and stroke volumes due to microcontroller software issues.
Conclusions:
- A proof-of-concept pulsatile heart phantom pump was developed.
- The phantom can potentially be used for validation tests of medical imaging techniques.
- Further software development is required for reliable operation across all specified parameters.
