Introduction of a new simple dynamic phantom for physical BOLD effect simulation

Objective To propose a new method of simulating the BOLD contrast using a dynamic, easy to construct and operate, low-cost physical phantom. Materials and methods A structure of thin pipelines passing through a gel volume was used to simulate blood vessels in human tissue. Quantitative T2*, R2* measurements were used to study the signal change of the phantom. BOLD fMRI experiments and analysis were performed to evaluate its potential use as an fMRI simulator. Results Experimental T2*, R2* measurements showed similar behavior with published references. BOLD contrast was successfully achieved with the proposed method. In addition, there were several proposed parameters, like the angle of the phantom relative to B0, which can easily adjust the signal change and the activation area. Coefficients of variation showed good reproducibility within a month period. Statistical t maps were produced with in-house software for the BOLD measurements. Discussion T2*maps and BOLD images confirm the potential use of this phantom as an fMRI simulator and also as a tool for studying sensitivity and specificity of BOLD sequences/algorithms.

Automated summary

The study proposed a new method using a physical phantom to simulate BOLD contrast, which was successfully achieved with good reproducibility. Results confirmed the potential use of the phantom as an fMRI simulator and as a tool for studying sensitivity and specificity of BOLD sequences/algorithms.