title: Three-dimensional brain phantom containing bone and grey matter structures with a realistic head contour.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  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.
  
  
  METHODS
  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 K(2)HPO(4), 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.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total weight was 1997 ± 2 g excluding the inner liquid, and volumes were 563 ± 1 and 306 ± 2 mL, corresponding to the grey matter and bone compartments, respectively. The apparent attenuation coefficient averaged over the whole brain was 0.168 ± 0.006 cm(-1) for Tc-99 m, which was consistent with the previously reported value for humans (0.168 ± 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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The 3-dimensional brain phantom constructed in this study may be of use for evaluating the adequacy of SPECT/PET reconstruction software programs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Investigative Radiology, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center Research Institute, Suita City, Osaka, Japan. iida@ri.ncvc.go.jp
authors.forename: Hidehiro
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iida
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hori
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.forename: Etsuko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Imabayashi
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Hirotaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maruno
authors.forename: Akihide
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koshino
authors.forename: Junichiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Enmi
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iguchi
authors.forename: Tetsuaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moriguchi
authors.forename: Hidekazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawashima
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zeniya
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D006257:Head / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon