Fabrication of Tuneable Tissue-Mimicking Phantom for Optical Methods

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Medical Imaging Technology
• Optical Phantoms

Background:

• Tissue-mimicking optical phantoms are crucial for calibrating near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and tomography (NIROT) devices.
• Existing phantoms often lack the complex structures and dynamic optical properties of human tissues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, fabricate, and characterize a novel phantom system for testing near-infrared imaging devices.
• To create a phantom with arbitrary internal shapes and continuously variable optical properties.

Main Methods:

• A dynamic phantom platform was developed using silicone with embedded polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) structures.
• Internal hollow shapes were created by dissolving PVA, and optical properties were adjusted by injecting liquid solutions.
• The phantom was evaluated using frequency domain near-infrared spectroscopy (FD NIRS) and time domain near-infrared optical tomography (TD NIROT).

Main Results:

• A dynamic phantom system with a complex internal structure and adjustable optical properties was successfully created.
• FD NIRS detected changes in light intensity within the phantom.
• TD NIROT accurately reconstructed the internal structure of the phantom.

Conclusions:

• The developed phantom system effectively mimics dynamic human tissue properties.
• This novel phantom is a valuable tool for validating and improving near-infrared imaging technologies.