Abstract: Tissue-simulating phantoms with interior vascular network may facilitate traceable calibration and quantitative validation of many medical optical devices. However, a solid phantom that reliably simulates tissue oxygenation and blood perfusion is still not available. This paper presents a new method to fabricate hollow microtubes for blood vessel simulation in solid phantoms. The fabrication process combines ultraviolet (UV) rapid prototyping technique with fluid mechanics of a coaxial jet flow. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and a UV-curable polymer are mixed at the designated ratio and extruded through a coaxial needle device to produce a coaxial jet flow. The extruded jet flow is quickly photo-polymerized by ultraviolet (UV) light to form vessel-simulating solid structures at dif

Abstract: Vast research has been carried out to fabricate tissue-mimicking phantoms, due to their convenient use and ease of storage, to assess and validate the performance of optical imaging devices. However, to the best of our knowledge, there has been little research on the use of multilayer tissue phantoms for optical imaging technology, although their structure is closer to that of real skin tissue. In this work, we design, fabricate, and characterize multilayer tissue-mimicking phantoms, with a morphological mouse ear blood vessel, that contain an epidermis, a dermis, and a hypodermis. Each tissue-mimicking phantom layer is characterized individually to match specific skin tissue layer characteristics. The thickness, optical properties (absorption coefficient and reduced scattering c

Abstract : Appropriate surgical planning is important for improved clinical outcome and minimal complications in many surgical operations. In order to provide an intuitive model for better surgical planning, we develop a novel process that combines 3D printing and casting for freeform fabrication of tissue-simulating phantoms. 3D computer models of biological systems including body and internal organs are sliced, processed, and converted into data format suitable for Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). The hard tissue structures, such as bones and skeletons, are printed directly by FDM using Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) material. The soft tissue structures, such as soft internal organs, are fabricated by casting silicon materials of different compositions in FDM printed shell molds.

Abstract: Accurate characterization of absorption and scattering properties for biologic tissue and tissue-simulating materials enables 3D printing of traceable tissue-simulating phantoms for medical spectral device calibration and standardized medical optical imaging. Conventional double integrating sphere systems have several limitations and are suboptimal for optical characterization of liquid and soft materials used in 3D printing. We propose a vertical double integrating sphere system and the associated reconstruction algorithms for optical characterization of phantom materials that simulate different human tissue components. The system characterizes absorption and scattering properties of liquid and solid phantom materials in an operating wavelength range from 400 nm to 1100 nm. Abso

Abstract: Clinical utility of many biomedical optical devices is limited by the lack of effective and traceable calibration methods. Optical phantoms that simulate biological tissues used for optical device calibration have been explored. However, these phantoms can hardly simulate both structural and optical properties of multi-layered biological tissue. To address this limitation, we develop a 3D printing production line that integrates spin coating, light-cured 3D printing and Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) for freeform fabrication of optical phantoms with mechanical and optical heterogeneities. With the gel wax Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and colorless light-curable ink as matrix materials, titanium dioxide (TiO2) powder as the scattering ingredient, graphite powder and black carbon

Abstract: The performance of biomedical optical imaging devices heavily relies on appropriate calibration. However, many of existing calibration phantoms for biomedical optical devices are based on homogenous materials without considering the multi-layer heterogeneous structures observed in biological tissue. Using such a phantom for optical calibration may result in measurement bias. To overcome this problem, we propose a 3D printing method for freeform fabrication of tissue simulating phantoms with multilayer heterogeneous structure. The phantom simulates not only the morphologic characteristics of biological tissue but also absorption and scattering properties. The printing system is based on a 3D motion platform with coordinated control of the DC motors. A special jet nozzle is de