We developed a reliable and repeatable process to create hyper-realistic, kidney phantoms with tunable image visibility under ultrasound (US) and CT imaging modalities. A methodology was defined to create phantoms that could be produced for renal biopsy evaluation. The final complex kidney phantom was devised containing critical structures of a kidney: kidney cortex, medulla, and ureter. Simultaneously, some lesions were integrated into the phantom to mimic the presence of tumors during biopsy. The phantoms were created and scanned by ultrasound and CT scanners to verify the visibility of the complex internal structures and to observe the interactions between material properties. The result was a successful advancement in knowledge of materials with ideal acoustic and impedance properties to replicate human organs for the field of image-guided interventions.
Keywords: additive manufacturing; computed tomography (CT); image segmentation; kidney phantom; mold casting; renal biopsy; three-dimensional; ultrtasound imaging (US).