Potential use of polyvinyl alcohol (PVAL) gel materials as mammography phantoms for the detection of calcifications

Abstract

Abstract The study focused on the construction of phantoms made of the polyvinyl alcohol (PVAL) gel materials for mammography based on the dimensions of available RMI phantom for quality control in mammography. The PVAL gel phantoms were fabricated at 20% percentages of PVAL to water to provide target density of 1.0 g/cm3 and physical strength similar to that of human soft tissues. The calcifications were simulated by using calcium based powders at three different depths. Mammography images were obtained based on the automatic exposure control (AEC) at different compression forces. The results showed That all samples showed good visualisation of calcifications in the mammography images of all fabricated phantoms. The calcifications were well defined with no significant differences of the visualisation of calcifications in all mammography images of all fabricated PVAL gel phantoms. The results indicated the potential of PVAL gel materials to be developed and used as phantoms for the quality control works in mammography.