Evaluation of a Physical Phantom for Use with Contrast Enhanced X-Ray Technique

Aim of this study is to develop and assess the design and the suitability of a physical phantom containing two low contrast objects for the purposes of testing and optimization tasks in an in-house radiography system under development. For this purpose, a dedicated software application is used to create a computational phantom, which is subsequently used as a template for the manufacturing of two physical phantoms. These physical phantoms are produced by using two distinct 3D printing technologies: fused filament fabrication and stereolithography. Each of these physical phantoms incorporates ten different low-contrast objects. The phantoms are scanned at a commercial radiography system using six different tube voltages. The assessment included subjective and objective evaluation. The radiologist involved in the study expressed a more favorable opinion of the phantom created by the stereolithography printer. Although the contrast of the objects in this phantom was lower, the inhomogeneity in the resulting images was minimal. As a result, we have chosen this physical phantom as the basic instrument for performing tests and conducting optimization studies within the framework of our evolving radiography setup.