A new phantom and empirical formula for apparent diffusion coefficient measurement by a 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner

The aim of this study was to create a new phantom for a 3 Tesla (3T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device for the calculation of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) using diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and to mimic the ADC values of normal and tumor tissues at various temperatures, including the physiological body temperature of 37°C. The phantom was produced using several concentrations of sucrose from 0 to 1.2 M, and the DWI was performed using various phantom temperatures. The accurate ADC values were calculated using the DWIs of the phantoms, and an empirical formula was developed to calculate the ADC values of the phantoms from an arbitrary sucrose concentration and arbitrary phantom temperature. The empirical formula was able to produce ADC values ranging between 0.33 and 3.02×10-3 mm2/sec, which covered the range of ADC values of the human body that have been measured clinically by 3T MRI in previous studies. The phantom and empirical formula developed in this study may be available to mimic the ADC values of the clinical human lesion by 3T MRI.