Manufacturing of a Gelatin Phantom With Lymphedema for Ultrasonic Imaging Measurement

Abstract

For diagnosis of secondary lymphedema, amplitude mode (A-mode) examination using a single ultrasound probe has been suggested as one of the possible diagnostic modalities due to its relatively low cost, ease of usage, and mobility. However, A-mode ultrasound waves with respect to time have lots of noise and are complicated to analyze and achieve well-correlated information related to change in volume of each layer of skin and subcutaneous tissues. Thus, the development of an adequate ultrasound calibration phantom is needed. For this, a fundamental study on proper phantom materials which show acoustic characteristics of skin and subcutaneous tissues is needed. In this research, the fabrication method for ultrasonic phantom using gelatin material is presented in a wide range of acoustic impedance and their acoustic characteristics and usability were discussed.