Development and Characterization of a Tissue Mimicking Psyllium Husk Gelatin Phantom for Ultrasound and Magnetic Resonance Imaging

To develop and characterize a tissue-mimicking phantom that enables the direct comparison of magnetic resonance (MR) and ultrasound (US) imaging techniques useful for monitoring high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatments. With no additions, gelatin phantoms produce little if any scattering required for US imaging. This study characterizes the MR and US image characteristics as a function of psyllium husk concentration, which was added to increase US scattering. Gelatin phantoms were constructed with varying concentrations of psyllium husk. The effects of psyllium husk concentration on US B-mode and MR imaging were evaluated at nine different concentrations. T1, T2, and T2* MR maps were acquired. Acoustic properties (attenuation and speed of sound) were measured at frequencies of 0.6, 1.0, 1.8, and 3.0 MHz using a through-transmission technique. Phantom elastic properties were evaluated for both time and temperature dependence. Ultrasound image echogenicity increased with increasing psyllium husk concentration while quality of gradient-recalled echo MR images decreased with increasing concentration. For all phantoms, the measured speed of sound ranged between 1567-1569 m/s and the attenuation ranged between 0.42-0.44 dB/(cm·MHz). Measured T1 ranged from 974-1051 ms. The T2 and T2* values ranged from 97-108 ms and 48-88 ms, respectively, with both showing a decreasing trend with increased psyllium husk concentration. Phantom stiffness, measured using US shear-wave speed measurements, increased with age and decreased with increasing temperature. The presented dual-use tissue-mimicking phantom is easy to manufacture and can be used to compare and evaluate US-guided and MR-guided HIFU imaging protocols.