Matthew T. Latourette1, James E. Siebert1
1Radiology,
In
longitudinal research studies that employ R2*/T2* quantitation, reference
phantoms can serve to improve the sensitivity and reproducibility of R2* measurements
through detection and correction of bias and reduction of the variance of
pooled study data. Stable phantoms
comprised of agarose and carageenan gel doped with SPIO, NiCl2,
and methylisothiazolinone were developed, enabling reliable R2* measurements
that are adequately insensitive to temperature variations near room
temperature. The phantoms R2*
dependence on B0 was evaluated at field strengths of 0.35T, 0.7T,
1.5T, 3.0T. Chemical stability has
been evaluated since phantom construction in April 2009.