TOPIC 421: MULTI-COMPARTMENT PHANTOM MATERIALS FOR QUANTITATIVE, MULTI-PARAMETIC MRI OF THE PROSTATE

Prostate cancer (PCa) remains a leading malignancy for the US male population, with over 200,000 new cases projected in 2020. Multi-parametric (mpMRI) is the current standard-of-care to diagnose and triage indolent versus aggressive PCa for treatment according to PIRADS criteria. However, mpMRI diagnosis is based on a qualitative assessment that does not quantify the inherently multi-exponential diffusion and relaxation processes in cancerous tissue. To quantify mpMRI of the prostate, phantom materials are needed to optimize and standardize acquisition protocols. We will demonstrate novel phantom materials with a microstructure similar to PCa. Colloidal suspensions of lamellar vesicles, embedded within a hydrogel matrix, mimic the multi-compartment water contribution to the image voxel signal in the PCa environment. These gel structures can be cast to arbitrary shapes and can be mass-produced for clinical use during patient scans. This will eliminate the need for bulky phantom housings or additional reference scan time when performing reference measurements with the phantom materials. CIRS will demonstrate the utility of these materials in Phase I by prototyping a Quantitative mpMRI System Phantom and an MRI Radiomics Prostate Phantom. This will be followed by Phase II development of disposable, Quantitative Biomimetic Phantoms for concurrent imaging during patient scans.