Abstract:
This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of animal-waste-derived
scatterers incorporated into room temperature vulcanizing (RTV) silicone on the
ultrasound properties of breast tissue-mimicking phantoms. Specifically, the study
evaluated the effects of shrimp shell powder, eggshell powder, and fishbone powder on
echogenicity and speckle characteristics under standardized ultrasound imaging
conditions. A quantitative true experimental post-test-only comparative research design
was employed. Four phantom formulations were fabricated: RTV silicone with shrimp
shell powder and eggshell powder (1:1), RTV silicone with shrimp shell powder, eggshell
powder, and fishbone powder (1:1:1), RTV silicone without scatterers, and an agar-based
reference phantom. Ultrasound images were acquired using a 10 MHz linear transducer
and analyzed through region-of-interest (ROI) analysis using ImageJ software. Results
demonstrated that the incorporation of animal-waste-derived scatterers significantly
increased echogenicity and speckle compared to RTV silicone without scatterers. Among
the fabricated formulations, the RTV silicone phantom containing shrimp shell powder
and eggshell powder (1:1) produced ultrasound properties most closely resembling the
agar-based reference phantom. Statistical analysis further revealed significant differences
among the fabricated phantoms in terms of echogenicity and speckle. The findings
suggest that calcium-rich animal-waste-derived materials possess potential as sustainable
and cost-effective acoustic scatterers for ultrasound breast phantom fabrication and other
tissue-mimicking phantom applications.
