Quantitative anatomy mimicking slice phantoms.

Purpose: To present a reproducible methodology for building an anatomy mimicking phantom with targeted T and T contrast for use in quantitative magnetic resonance imaging.

Methods: We propose a reproducible method for creating high-resolution, quantitative slice phantoms. The phantoms are created using gels with different concentrations of NiCl and MnCl to achieve targeted T and T values. We describe a calibration method for accurately targeting anatomically realistic relaxation pairs. In addition, we developed a method of fabricating slice phantoms by extruding 3D printed walls on acrylic sheets. These procedures are combined to create a physical analog of the Brainweb digital phantom.

Results: With our method, we are able to target specific T /T values with less than 10% error. Additionally, our slice phantoms look realistic since their geometries are derived from anatomical data.

Conclusion: Standardized and accurate tools for validating new techniques across sequences, platforms, and different imaging sites are important. Anatomy mimicking, multi-contrast phantoms designed with our procedures could be used for evaluating, testing, and verifying model-based methods.