Designing phantom for head-and-neck treatment verification: Feasibility tests with bone and bone equivalent material incorporated into polymer gel

This work presents different approaches to manufacture of polyacrylamide gel (PAG) with bone inhomogeneity in an attempt to construct an authentic phantom for verification of head-and-neck irradiation specially for quantifying the absorbed dose in the spine. A special phantom was designed which includes air tube simulating thorax and accommodates model of spinal canal. Several methods of bone implantation into PAG were tested. The results indicate that proper mechanical surface cleaning of the bones eliminates the detrimental effects of chemicals used for bone conservation, while sufficient nitrogen flushing during the manufacture procedure effectively lowers the amount of oxygen present in the bone pores.