Fabrication of dynamic optical head phantoms from an MRI head model

Optical tomography is a new modality of noninvasive diagnosis for imaging the distribution of optical properties in human bodies. In the process of developing optical tomography systems which can be applicable to human heads for diagnosis of disease and study of brain functions, we need realistic optical phantoms which anatomically and optically simulate human heads with complicated and multi- layered structures. Previously we have reported design and fabrication methods of optical head phantoms based on an MRI human head image. The phantoms have simulated the multi- layered structure with different optical properties specified to each layer. They had five layers; i.e., skin, skull, cerebrospinal fluid layer, gray matter and white matter. Also some inclusions simulating hematoma were embedded in some part of the head phantoms. However, the phantoms were made all of solid plastic resin and the temporal variation of physiological functions in brain could not be simulated by the static phantoms. We have improved the fabrication method and succeeded in making dynamic optical phantoms which are able to include some parts simulating the temporal variation of blood flow rate and oxygenation status.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.