Evaluation of abdominal phantoms for calibration of automatic exposure control devices

The calibration of automatic exposure control (AEC) systems required the use of phantoms to simulate normal anatomy. Three commercial anthropomorphic phantoms (Humanoid, Rando, and 3M) and two plastic aluminum phantoms (CDRH prototype and ANSI) were examined, and their ability to duplicate the radiographic response of the AEC to a patient of average abdominal thickness was determined. The AEC response was measured for 150 patients with abdominal thicknesses ranging from 18 cm to 28 cm. Both single- and three-phase units having either photocell or ionization chamber detectors were tested. The sensitivity of each phantom to position and kVp was determined