Temperature and concentration calibration of aqueous polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) solutions for isotropic diffusion MRI phantoms

PLoS One. 2017 Jun 19;12(6):e0179276. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179276. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

To use the "apparent diffusion coefficient" (Dapp) as a quantitative imaging parameter, well-suited test fluids are essential. In this study, the previously proposed aqueous solutions of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were examined and temperature calibrations were obtained. For example, at a temperature of 20°C, Dapp ranged from 1.594 (95% CI: 1.593, 1.595) μm2/ms to 0.3326 (95% CI: 0. 3304, 0.3348) μm2/ms for PVP-concentrations ranging from 10% (w/w) to 50% (w/w) using K30 polymer lengths. The temperature dependence of Dapp was found to be so strong that a negligence seems not advisable. The temperature dependence is descriptively modelled by an exponential function exp(c2 (T - 20°C)) and the determined c2 values are reported, which can be used for temperature calibration. For example, we find the value 0.02952 K-1 for 30% (w/w) PVP-concentration and K30 polymer length. In general, aqueous PVP solutions were found to be suitable to produce easily applicable and reliable Dapp-phantoms.

MeSH terms

  • Calibration
  • Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Polymers / chemistry
  • Povidone / chemistry*
  • Solutions / chemistry
  • Temperature

Substances

  • Polymers
  • Solutions
  • Povidone

Grants and funding

Financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is gratefully acknowledged (grant number LA 2804/1-3).