Investigating the suitability of newly developed epoxy-based equivalent tissues for newborn and 5-year-old in paediatric radiology

• Published in: Radiation physics and chemistry (Oxford, England : 1993) England : 1993), 2024-01, Vol.214, p.111288, Article 111288
• Main Authors: Ashour, Nabeel Ibrahim, Abdul Hadi, Muhammad Fahmi Rizal, Hashikin, Nurul Ab. Aziz, Dheyab, Mohammed Ali, Musa, Ahmed Sadeq, Nik Ab Razak, Nik Noor Ashikin, Abdul Aziz, Mohd Zahri
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bone tissue; Diagnostic energy; Paediatric; Radiology; Soft tissue; Tissue-equivalent substitute
• ISSN: 0969-806X; 1879-0895
• DOI: 10.1016/j.radphyschem.2023.111288

The varied radiological applications of tissue equivalent (TE) materials encompass quality checks, diagnostic imaging, and dose evaluations. However, the availability of compounds representing paediatric patient tissues for scientific use in lower diagnostic photon energy spectra is limited. In this study, several TE substitutes were developed to replicate the radiographic characteristics of neonatal soft tissue (ESST-NB), neonatal skeletal tissue (ESTB-NB), and equivalent tissues of a 5-year-old child (ESST and ESBT, respectively) within these energy ranges. The ORNL stylized computational model series was utilised as the primary reference for obtaining the desired elemental ratios. The density, effective atomic number, CT numbers, and electron densities obtained for the developed tissue substitutes exhibited a close resemblance to those of the reference phantom system, demonstrating a high level of accuracy and agreement. Furthermore, in order to accommodate constraints related to material selection and production, significant correlations were established between the obtained data and the reference values for mass densities, mass attenuation coefficients, and mass energy-absorption coefficients. In comparison to the ORNL reference samples, the neonates TE substitutions showed maximum discrepancies μ/ρ ranging from +1.6% to −3.01% and μen/ρ from +1.15% to −1.4% throughout an energy range from 47 keV to 66 keV. For the TE materials representing a 5-year-old, the corresponding comparable data ranges were +1.09% to −3.02% and +1.92% to −2.53%. These tissues may then be utilised to produce physical phantoms for neonates and 5-year-old as a result of the great concordance established between the newly built TE materials and the reference data. •Tissue equivalent (TE) substitutes were developed.•Mass attenuation coefficients are calculated for the developed tissue substitutes.•These tissues can subsequently be utilised to create neonates and children aged 5 years physical phantoms.