National Institute of Standards and Technology in the United State is proposing several standard MRI phantoms. A numerical phantom was created after the specifications of one of the phantom (Phannie).
The Phannie MRI phantom consists of 57 fiducial point spheres, 14 proton density standard spheres, 14 T1 standard spheres, and 14 T2 standard spheres filled with doped water. The spheres are placed in a spherical container (200 mm inner diameter) filled with deionized water. The spheres are supported by five circular discs and circular pipes.
The following figure shows cross-sections of proton density of the numerical phantom except the cross sections of the T1 and T2 distributions.
The proton density standard spheres are made by mixing H2O and D2O and a small amount of NiCl2 is added. The T1 standard spheres are made by varying the density of NiCl2 of the water solution. The T2 standard spheres are made by varying the density of MnCl2 of the water solution.
