Tomographic physical phantom of the newborn child with real-time dosimetry I. Methods and techniques for construction.

A tomographic phantom representing a newborn female patient was constructed using tissue-equivalent materials previously developed at the University of Florida. This phantom was constructed using contoured images from an actual patient data set, a whole-body computed tomography of a newborn cadaver previously described by Nipper et al. [Phys. Med. Biol. 47, 3143-1364 (2002)]. Four types of material are incorporated in the phantom: soft tissue, bone tissue, lung tissue, and air. The phantom was constructed on a slice-by-slice basis with a z-axis resolution of 5 mm, channels for dosimeters (thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD), metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor, or gated fiber-optic-coupled dosimeter (GFOC)) were machined into slices prior to assembly, and the slices were then fixed together to form the complete phantom. The phantom will be used in conjunction with an incorporated dosimetry system to calculate individual organ and effective doses delivered to newborn patients during various diagnostic procedures, including, but not limited to, projection radiography and computed tomography. Included in this paper are images detailing the construction process, and images of the completed phantom.