This medical training device allows interventional radiologists to practice the TIPS procedure, one of their most complex emergency procedures, in a realistic way. The phantom’s unique properties are its ability to move like the human liver while the top layer of the skin stays in place and its realistic three dimensional vein structures created though a revolutionary production method invented during the design of this product.

AED Phantome from leonard moonen on Vimeo.

Necessity

Formerly, the TIPS procedure was only practiced in real life situations leading to life threatening situations. Torso phantoms for other procedures are not sufficient due to a difference in skills that are focused on.

Challenges

During this project hollow vein structures needed to be created. Formerly, this was done by casting metal rods in the gel and removing them once the gel had set. Within this time period, I read an article on the 3d printing of sugar to make interesting confectioneries. With this inspiration we contacted the printer to inform about the possibilities and technical specifications of these prints. They turned out to be very strong and stiff but still soluble in hot water. This turned out to be the golden ticket to making realistic and challenging enough hollow veins within this gel.

In the first half of the project my focus has been on engineering the movement of the liver phantom while during the second half my responsibilities included the design of the skin and body of the product.

The main challenge of designing the skin was to provide a way in which the top would stay still for the ultrasound emitter to be placed upon, while the liver phantom could move underneath it without any air between the layers. Therefore, the right material had to be found which could provide the right shape while being both sealable, US compatible and strong enough for the job.

To fill the bag with ultrasound gel without air, a custom mould was made in which the layers could also be sealed at the edges.