Solid phantom recipe for diffuse optics in biophotonics applications: a step towards anatomically correct 3D tissue phantoms

Abstract

We present a tissue mimicking optical phantom recipe to create robust well tested solid phantoms. The recipe consists of black silicone pigment (absorber), silica microspheres (scatterer) and silicone rubber (SiliGlass, bulk material). The phantom recipe was characterized over a broadband spectrum (600-1100 nm) for a wide range of optical properties (absorption 0.1-1 cm −1 , reduced scattering 5-25 cm −1 ) that are relevant to human organs. The results of linearity show a proper scaling of optical properties as well as the absence of coupling between the absorber and scatterer at different concentrations. A reproducibility of 4% among different preparations was obtained, with a similar grade of spatial homogeneity. Finally, a 3D non-scattering mock-up phantom of an infant torso made with the same recipe bulk material (SiliGlass) was presented to project the futuristic aspect of our work that is 3D printing human organs of biomedical relevance.

Optical characterization of porcine tissues from various organs in the 650–1100 nm range using time-domain diffuse spectroscopy

“…The entire system was automated for faster acquisition and controlled using in-house software. The system has been characterized, validated using internationally agreed protocols [48,49] and employed across various phantom [9,24] and clinical studies [50].…”

“…Synthetic phantoms can be made both in solid or liquid forms with the aim of mimicking the optical properties of the main tissue component (i.e. water, lipid) over the spectral range of interest [6,9]. These are easy to handle in routine instrument validation with the advantage of stable and reproducible optical properties, however, they mimic rather poorly mechanical properties and real and complex heterogeneities present in human organs.…”

Anthropomorphic optical phantom of the neonatal thorax: a key tool for pulmonary studies in preterm infants

“…The measurements of the recipe were performed with three repetitions and the coefficient of variation (CV) was found to be less than 3%. 23 The white resin used to 3D print the bone structure was 50 times less absorptive and 3 times more scattering than human bone. The rigid bone structure is needed to keep the phantom organs in place when curing the muscle, which simplifies the thorax building process and avoids the need for additional support structures.…”

“…measurements. 23 Table 1 provides the values of the aimed absorption and reduced scattering coefficients of each organ phantom for this study. Table 2 shows the volumes of the cast organs and the respective quantities of scatters and absorbers used for the preparation of each phantom recipe.…”

A New Diffuse Optics Emitter for High Visual Diffuse Transmission Density Measurement

“…Diffuse transmission optical density is an important optical property of many materials, such as exposed films, special filters, etc. [1][2][3][4]. It is widely used for quality control in many advanced applications in diffuse optical spectroscopy [5][6][7][8][9][10].…”