Study of hydrophilic materials as tissue equivalent phantoms for positron emission tomography

Positron emission tomography is a nuclear medicine procedure allowing biochemical processes to be investigated by in vivo imaging. Tissue equivalent materials have generated great interest in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. This study describes the preparation of phantoms and methods employed to determine oxygen levels in cross-linked hydrophilic co-polymers with a view to extend this further for samples at low concentrations of oxygen. The physicochemical characteristics of hydroxyethyl methacrylate and methyl methacrylate/vinyl pyrrolidone were studied by measuring the hydration rate in biological fluids. (author)