Translating Phantoms and Phantom-Derived Measurements from Bench to Bedside
Description
Imaging phantoms are foundational to building reliable, scalable, and equitable imaging systems. This symposium provides an overview of how contemporary phantoms and phantom-based methods connect benchtop measurements to clinical performance. The following themes will be highlighted: (1) leveraging phantom measurements on proxy datasets for predicting image quality across large, heterogeneous clinical image repositories and for harmonizing protocols; (2) deriving task-based metrics such as NEQ and detectability directly from patient images for rigorous quality controI; and (3) advances in high-fidelity, 3D-printed CT phantoms that produce realistic anatomical texture and attenuation for protocol optimization and validation of image reconstruction and AI pipelines. Emphasis is placed on study design, reporting standards, and how phantom-enabled workflows facilitate communication among researchers, clinical physicists, and industry partners. Attendees will leave with practical guidance for integrating phantoms and phantom-derived metrics into their own research environments and clinical practices.