A New Test Phantom for the Evaluation of Doppler Tissue Images

Abstract

Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) is a technique for examining the motion of moving tissue. It is particularly well suited for the examination of the motion of the myocardium and other cardiac structures. A new DTI test phantom has been designedand constructed that provides the means to evaluate the resolution of DTI images. The phantom consists of a rotating cylinder of tissue mimicking material (TMM) with a sectorshaped cut-out throughout its length. By evaluating the Doppler image of this moving structure, estimates of axial and lateral resolution can be obtained. The phantom was used to make resolution measurements of DTI images on three different ultrasound machines and to assess how machine settings affect resolution. The rotating phantom can also be used to measure contrast resolution, which is velocity resolution when considering DTI mode, and temporal resolution, which is essentially the scanner frame rate in DTI mode.

A review of Doppler ultrasound quality assurance protocols and test devices

“…Another variant on the rotating phantom consisted of a rotating cylinder of TMM with a sector-shaped cut-out throughout its length [52]. This phantom was capable of assessing axial and lateral resolution.…”