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

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Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgements

Part of this work was financially supported by a research project entitled: “Conversion and Calibration of Magnetic Resonance Imaging System (MRI) in a measuring system of hyperthermia applications, using magnetically labelled nanoparticles", Acronym: MRI-TEMPERATURE, Operational Program: Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, EPANEK 2014-2020, “Research Create and Innovate” (EYDE-ETAK Code: PSKE T1ΕΔΚ-00149, OPS 5029590).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Physics, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Themistoklis Boursianis, Georgios Kalaitzakis & Thomas G. Maris

  2. Research and Measurements Center of OHS Hazardous Agents, OHS Directorate, Hellenic Ministry of Labor, Athens, Greece

    Georgios Gourzoulidis

  3. Lighting Lab, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Georgios Gourzoulidis

  4. Department of Radiology, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Apostolos Karantanas & Efrosini Papadaki

  5. Computational BioMedicine Laboratory, Institute of Computer Science, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Apostolos Karantanas, Efrosini Papadaki & Thomas G. Maris

Authors
  1. Themistoklis Boursianis
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  2. Georgios Kalaitzakis
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  3. Georgios Gourzoulidis
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  4. Apostolos Karantanas
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  5. Efrosini Papadaki
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  6. Thomas G. Maris
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Contributions

TB: conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, validation, writing—review & editing. GK: conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, writing—review & editing. GG: writing—review & editing, AHK: writing—review & editing, supervision. EP: writing—review & editing, supervision. TGM: writing—review & editing, visualization, supervision.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Themistoklis Boursianis.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval is not applicable in this phantom study.

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Boursianis, T., Kalaitzakis, G., Gourzoulidis, G. et al. Introduction of a new simple dynamic phantom for physical BOLD effect simulation. Magn Reson Mater Phy 35, 389–399 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-021-00968-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-021-00968-3

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