Development and Evaluation of a Reusable Self-Healing Ultrasound Phantom for Vascular Access
Source abstract
Abstract
Ultrasound-guided femoral vascular access (UFVA) is a crucial step in cardiovascular intervention, yet training models remain costly, anatomically limited, or insufficiently durable. This research aimed to develop and evaluate a reusable, self-healing vascularised leg phantom in collaboration with clinicians. This bifurcating vascular model was cast in Plastisol using a customisable silicone mould design. The material exhibited a Shore OO hardness of 18.0 ± 2.2, a speed of sound of 1454 ± 15 m/s, an acoustic attenuation of 1.66 ± 0.02 × 106 kg/m2s, and healed 18G needle lesions within 3 h. Training capabilities were evaluated in a workshop involving 18 medical students: FVA times improved by more than 60% after 5 min of free practice. Qualitative feedback was collected from 31 medical educators via a seven-question Likert survey, with most reporting they would adopt the phantom for teaching. Phantoms cost £7.87 for materials, yet educators valued the models at £100–£500, underscoring its perceived utility. Compared to commercial alternatives, this in-house production approach reduced costs by 10–60 times, achieving comparable durability and anatomical fidelity. This study establishes a scalable, ultra-low-cost method for producing anatomically realistic, self-healing vascular phantoms, validated for effective skill acquisition in both educational and research settings.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Ultrasound in Clinical Applications · Anatomy and Medical Technology · Central Venous Catheters and Hemodialysis
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, St Thomas Hospital, London SE1 7EH, UK
Caranx Medical, 400 Promenade des Anglais, 06200 Nice, France
St George’s Hospital, London SW17 0QT, UK
St Thomas Hospital, London SE1 7EH, UK
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and Allied Health, University of Buckingham, Buckingham MK18 1EG, UK
Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, UK
Funding
Wellcome Centre for Medical Engineering at King’s College London · British Heart Foundation (BHF) Centre of Excellence at King’s College London · Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) MedTech · Vitro Diagnostic Co-operative (MIC) Award for Cardiovascular Diseases to Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with King’s College London · Caranx Medical, Nice, France · British Heart Foundation
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