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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Phys.
Sec. Medical Physics and Imaging
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphy.2024.1369574
This article is part of the Research Topic Development of Task Specific Phantoms and Test Objects for Medical Imaging View all 3 articles

A modular torso phantom featuring a pneumatic stepper and flow for MR sequence development

Provisionally accepted
Tito Körner Tito Körner Stefan Wampl Stefan Wampl Lorenz Kiss Lorenz Kiss Dr. Gunpreet Oberoi Dr. Gunpreet Oberoi Ewald Unger Ewald Unger Wolfgang Birkfellner Wolfgang Birkfellner Albrecht I. Schmid Albrecht I. Schmid *
  • Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Phantoms mimicking tissue motion have become a valuable tool for quality control in various fields of medical physics including lung phantoms for image-guided radiotherapy and functional imaging in nuclear medicine or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the body. In MRI, precise kinematic models are more difficult to realize owing to the requirements of MR-compatibility. Pneumatic stepper motors built entirely of non-conducting materials can be safely used in an MR environment, with pressurized air supply and switching residing outside the magnet room. In this research, a torso phantom was built adopting a 3D-printed linear stepper drive for use with high-field MR scanners. It was possible to simulate respiratory motion of a 3D-printed left ventricle phantom using the stepper. Precise and accurate motion for a time of 15 minutes over a range of 8 cm were achieved with speeds up to 5.5 mm/s when the stepper was loaded with the left ventricle phantom. It was shown that the motor is an effective tool for quality control in multi-modal medical imaging.

    Keywords: torso phantom, MRI, Stepper motor, 3D printing, Additive manufacturing, Pneumatic, modular phantom, breathing

    Received: 12 Jan 2024; Accepted: 02 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Körner, Wampl, Kiss, Oberoi, Unger, Birkfellner and Schmid. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Albrecht I. Schmid, Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

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