WALL-LESS FLOW PHANTOM FOR HIGH-FREQUENCY ULTRASOUND APPLICATIONS

There are currently very few test objects suitable for high-frequency ultrasound scanners that can be rapidly manufactured, have appropriate acoustic characteristics and are suitably robust. Here we describe techniques for the creation of a wall-less flow phantom using a physically robust konjac and carrageenan-based tissue-mimicking material. Vessel dimensions equivalent to those of mouse and rat arteries were achieved with steady flow, with the vessel at a depth of 1.0 mm. We then employed the phantom to briefly investigate velocity errors using pulsed wave Doppler with a commercial preclinical ultrasound system. This phantom will provide a useful tool for testing preclinical ultrasound imaging systems. (E-mail: david.kenwright@ed.ac.uk) (C) 2015 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.