Development of Ultrasound Phantom Made of Transparent Material: Feasibility of Optical Particle Image Velocimetry.

Objective: The need for ultrasound flow phantoms to validate ultrasound systems requires the development of materials that can clearly visualize the flow inside for measurement purposes.

Methods: A transparent ultrasound flow phantom material composed of poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel (PVA-H) with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and water solution manufactured using the freezing method and mixed with quartz glass powder to exhibit scattering effects is proposed. To achieve transparency of the hydrogel phantom, the refractive index (RI) was changed to match that of the glass by modifying the PVA concentration and the ratio of DMSO to water in the solvent.