Construction of teaching radiographic phantoms and their efficacy

One of the main goals of establishment of radiology technology discipline is training students who can imagine high-quality radiographic perspective. For this reason students must study theoretical basis of imaging techniques at first, and then follow this principle in lab and finally apply them on patients. At present, in our country the second stage of this process (taking an image in lab) doesn’t take place because of some restrictions such as radiographic phantoms. This matter causes some problems. The Aim of this study was construction of teaching radiographic phantoms to train students to get radiographic image in lab. After lab training, they enter into radiology departments (real environment). Methods and material: Natural bone from anatomy department was provided and then adjusted with respect to its anatomical position in body and various radiographic positions. Simultaneously from each region a mold was prepared and bones set in correct anatomical and radiographic position into that and then it was filled with melted paraffin. After cooling the phantoms, they were taken took out and colored. Investigation and comparison of results showed that instructed phantoms have very similarity with patient radiographs with regard to physical parameters such as density and contrast. This result showed that construction of radiographic teaching phantoms is possible in our country and according to their quality we can use them in training of students.