Quantitative anatomy mimicking slice phantoms

To present a reproducible methodology for building an anatomy mimicking phantom with targeted T₁ and T₂ contrast for use in quantitative magnetic resonance imaging.

We propose a reproducible method for creating high-resolution, quantitative slice phantoms. The phantoms are created using gels with different concentrations of NiCl₂ and MnCl₂ to achieve targeted T₁ and T₂ values. We describe a calibration method for accurately targeting anatomically realistic relaxation pairs. In addition, we developed a method of fabricating slice phantoms by extruding 3D printed walls on acrylic sheets. These procedures are combined to create a physical analog of the Brainweb digital phantom.

With our method, we are able to target specific T₁ /T₂ values with less than 10% error. Additionally, our slice phantoms look realistic since their geometries are derived from anatomical data.

Standardized and accurate tools for validating new techniques across sequences, platforms, and different imaging sites are important. Anatomy mimicking, multi-contrast phantoms designed with our procedures could be used for evaluating, testing, and verifying model-based methods.