Robotic lung phantom for the assessment of radiopharmaceuticals in nuclear imaging systems

This work presents the development of a soft robotic lung phantom named SOFTLUPHA to characterize and evaluate radiopharmaceuticals on nuclear imaging systems. The proposed design envisages the lungs, the trachea, and two hollow spherical inserts that simulate tumors. The trachea and tumors were manufactured by 3D printing with polylactic acid (PLA) filament and coated with epoxy resin. The lungs were obtained with the medical grade silicone EcoFlex(TM) 00-33 AF, following a silicone casting process with 3D printed molds. Phantom actuation was obtained through instrumentation and control stages that included an air bomb, an airflow sensor, electronics, and an Arduino Uno microcontroller. The developed phantom was tested for nuclear image acquisition using a single photon emission tomography/computed tomography system. The tests were carried out using known radioactive concentrations of Tc-99m with the prototype executing a respiratory routine. The results showed that the SOFTLUPHA could be used to evaluate the performance of motion correction algorithms that could impact the quantification processes of lung malignancies.