Three-dimensional brain phantom containing bone and grey matter structures with a realistic head contour

: Iida H, Hori Y, Ishida K, Imabayashi E, Matsuda H, Takahashi M, Maruno H, Yamamoto A, Koshino K, Enmi J, Iguchi S, Moriguchi T, Kawashima H, Zeniya T

Publisher: SPRINGER

: 2013

: Annals of Nuclear Medicine

: ANNALS OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE

: ANN NUCL MED

: 27

: 1

: 25

: 36

: 12

: 0914-7187

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-012-0655-7

A physical 3-dimensional phantom that simulates PET/SPECT images of static regional cerebral blood flow in grey matter with a realistic head contour has been developed. This study examined the feasibility of using this phantom for evaluating PET/SPECT images.The phantom was constructed using a transparent, hydrophobic photo-curable polymer with a laser-modelling technique. The phantom was designed to contain the grey matter, the skull, and the trachea spaces filled with a radioactive solution, a bone-equivalent solution of K2HPO4, and air, respectively. The grey matter and bone compartments were designed to establish the connectivity. A series of experiments was performed to confirm the accuracy and reproducibility of the phantom using X-ray CT, SPECT, and PET.The total weight was 1997 +/- A 2 g excluding the inner liquid, and volumes were 563 +/- A 1 and 306 +/- A 2 mL, corresponding to the grey matter and bone compartments, respectively. The apparent attenuation coefficient averaged over the whole brain was 0.168 +/- A 0.006 cm(-1) for Tc-99 m, which was consistent with the previously reported value for humans (0.168 +/- A 0.010 cm(-1)). Air bubbles were well removed from both grey-matter and bone compartments, as confirmed by X-ray CT. The phantom was well adapted to experiments using PET and SPECT devices.The 3-dimensional brain phantom constructed in this study may be of use for evaluating the adequacy of SPECT/PET reconstruction software programs.