Quality control of carbon-rubber tissue phantoms: Comparative MRI, CT, X-ray and UWB microwave measurements

Carbon-rubber phantoms have recently been introduced as tissue-mimicking materials for microwave biomedical applications. In contrast to other phantom materials, carbon-rubber materials allow easy construction of heterogeneous phantoms with time-stable dielectric properties. However, the fabrication of large solid phantoms may pose a challenge. This paper investigates a large dielectric carbon-rubber phantom with four inclusions with an average dielectric contrast of only 10%. In order to comparatively evaluate the quality of the phantom material, MRI, CT, X-ray and UWB microwave measurements have been performed. The measurement results of all modalities are here presented and discussed.