Synthesized tissue‐equivalent dielectric phantoms using salt and polyvinylpyrrolidone solutions.

Purpose: To explore the use of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) for simulated materials with tissue‐equivalent dielectric properties. Methods: PVP and salt were used to control, respectively, relative permittivity and electrical conductivity in a collection of 63 samples with a range of solute concentrations. Their dielectric properties were measured with a commercial probe and fitted to a 3D polynomial in order to establish an empirical recipe. The material's thermal properties and MR spectra were measured. Results: The empirical polynomial recipe (available at https://www.amri.ninds.nih.gov/cgi-bin/phantomrecipe) provides the PVP and salt concentrations required for dielectric materials with permittivity and electrical conductivity values between approximately 45 and 78, and 0.1 to 2 siemens per meter, respectively, from 50 MHz to 4.5 GHz. The second‐ (solute concentrations) and seventh‐ (frequency) order polynomial recipe provided less than 2.5% relative error between the measured and target properties. PVP side peaks in the spectra were minor and unaffected by temperature changes. Conclusion: PVP‐based phantoms are easy to prepare and nontoxic, and their semitransparency makes air bubbles easy to identify. The polymer can be used to create simulated material with a range of dielectric properties, negligible spectral side peaks, and long T₂ relaxation time, which are favorable in many MR applications. Magn Reson Med 80:413–419, 2018. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]