High resolution anthropomorphic phantom for Monte Carlo analysis of internal radiation sources

A digital voxel phantom which closely resembles a typical male anatomy has been created. Organ outlines were manually drawn with 1-mm resolution in each of 78 transverses of the human torso. Such an anthropomorphic three-dimensional phantom has several interesting applications in the radiological sciences. Monte Carlo simulations can yield diagnostically realistic images of new investigational radiopharmaceuticals. Uptake characteristics approximated from small animal experiments can be used to test the imaging characteristics in human geometries. The resulting images can serve as ideal projection data of known source and attenuator distributions. This can lead to a better understanding of the image formation process for clinically realistic models, and can prove especially interesting in testing and improving tomographic reconstruction algorithms. Dose calculations for internal and external radiation sources using this phantom can give new insights in the field of health physics and therapy