Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42690320›Full record

ArticlePediatric radiology2026

Development and validation of a novel three-dimensional patient-specific pediatric brain phantom for computed tomography neuroimaging research.

Hamza Sekkat, Abdessalame El Hafiane, Oussama El Mouden, Imane Brika, Youssef Madkouri, Abdellah Khallouqi, Abdellah Halimi, Omar El Rhazouani

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Article in Pediatric radiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Hamza SekkatUniversité Hassan 1er, Route de Casablanca, Km 3.5, P.O. Box 539, Settat, 26000, Morocco. sekkat.isss@uhp.ac.ma.
Abdessalame El HafianeUniversité Hassan 1er, Route de Casablanca, Km 3.5, P.O. Box 539, Settat, 26000, Morocco.
Oussama El MoudenUniversité Hassan 1er, Route de Casablanca, Km 3.5, P.O. Box 539, Settat, 26000, Morocco.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5196-1700
Imane BrikaUniversité Hassan 1er, Route de Casablanca, Km 3.5, P.O. Box 539, Settat, 26000, Morocco.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1087-4823
Youssef MadkouriUniversité Ibn-Tofail, Kenitra, Morocco.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5030-7444
Abdellah KhallouqiUniversité Hassan 1er, Route de Casablanca, Km 3.5, P.O. Box 539, Settat, 26000, Morocco.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5050-748X
Abdellah HalimiUniversité Hassan 1er, Route de Casablanca, Km 3.5, P.O. Box 539, Settat, 26000, Morocco.
Omar El RhazouaniUniversité Hassan 1er, Route de Casablanca, Km 3.5, P.O. Box 539, Settat, 26000, Morocco.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPediatric head computed tomography (CT) is widely used for urgent neuroimaging, but children's higher radiosensitivity makes protocol optimization and quantitative validation essential. Many available phantoms lack patient-specific pediatric anatomy and realistic brain-mimicking attenuation, limiting their relevance for neuro-CT research and benchmarking.

objectiveTo develop and validate a CT-derived, patient-specific pediatric brain phantom that preserves anatomically faithful geometry and reproduces brain-mimicking soft-tissue attenuation with physics-validated energy dependence. MATERIALS AND

methodsA fully anonymized head CT of a 5-year-old child was segmented in 3-D Slicer, exported to standard tessellation language (STL), and partitioned into hemispheres. A polylactic acid (PLA) master was three-dimensional (D)-printed to fabricate a reinforced silicone mold. A homogeneous brain-mimicking soft-tissue surrogate was produced by modifying an epoxy system with acetone. The assembled phantom was scanned at 80, 100, 120, and 140 kilovolt peak (kVp). Region of interest (ROI)-based CT numbers were measured across both hemispheres. Computational attenuation verification was performed using Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) Monte Carlo simulations with a mono-energetic transmission method over 15-150 kiloelectronvolt (keV) and compared with PhyX-Photon Shielding and Dosimetry (PhyX-PSD) and National Institute of Standards and Technology XCOM database (NIST/XCOM) reference.

resultsThe fabricated phantom preserved the main bilateral morphology and retained 96.85% of the original patient-derived brain volume, with volumes of 1,129.15 cm

conclusionsThis work establishes the feasibility of producing a 3-D patient-specific pediatric brain component with preserved geometry and clinically relevant bulk CT attenuation, providing a methodological basis for subsequent integration of the skull and other structures into a modular complete-head phantom.

Indexed as

Brain-mimicking materialChildComputed tomography, X-rayMonte Carlo methodPhantoms, imagingPrinting, three-dimensional

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.