The choice of materials challenges the development of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) phantoms and, to date, is mainly limited to water-filled compartments or gel-based components. Recently, solid materials have been introduced through additive manufacturing (AM) to mimic complex geometrical structures. Nonetheless, no such manufactured solid materials are available with controllable MRI contrast to mimic organ substructures or lesion heterogeneities. Here, we present a novel AM design that allows MRI contrast manipulation by varying the partial volume contribution to a ROI/voxel of MRI-visible material within an imaging object. Two sets of 11 cubes and three replicates of a spherical tumour model were designed and printed using AM. Most samples presented varying MRI-contrast in standard MRI sequences, based mainly on spin density and partial volume signal variation. A smooth and continuous MRI-contrast gradient could be generated in a single-compartment tumour model. This concept supports the development of more complex MRI phantoms that mimic the appearance of heterogeneous tumour tissues.
Keywords: 3D printing; Additive manufacturing; MRI; Physical phantoms; PolyJet; Tumour heterogeneity.
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