Design and evaluation of a deformable multi-organ abdominal phantom for multimodality imaging applications

A deformable multi-organ abdominal phantom can have many applications in medical imaging and image-guided interventions. It can provide ground truth data for registration evaluation and procedure training. In this study, we designed and fabricated a deformable abdominal phantom for multimodal imaging applications. Computed tomography (CT) images of a human patient were used to segment the abdominal surface, kidneys, spleen, and liver. Scaled down 3D-printed molds were created based on the segmented 3D models of these structures. To allow for deformability, an agar-gelatin gel mixture was used to cast the phantom using the 3D-printed molds with potassium iodide added to the target formulation as a CT contrast agent. Psyllium husk powder was utilized as an ultrasound (US) scattering agent. Simulated tumors or targets were incorporated into the kidney phantom. All components were assembled into an abdominal mold to replicate patient anatomical structures. The phantom was evaluated using CT and ultrasound imaging, with preliminary results demonstrating its ability to provide ground truth for tumor localization. This study presents a reproducible framework for creating a deformable abdominal phantom that can be applied to the development and validation of image-guided interventional procedures.