Chinese reference population: Open-source age-dependent computational phantoms of reference Chinese population.

Abstract

Purpose: Computational phantoms have been widely used in radiation protection, radiotherapy, medical imaging, surgery navigation, and digital anatomy. However, current Chinese phantoms lack representation for all sensitive groups including adults, children, and pregnant women. This manuscript aims to address this gap by developing novel open-access computational phantoms representing the Chinese population.

Acquisition and validation methods: The Chinese reference population (CRP) developed in this study includes 30 phantoms, available in both voxel and nonuniform rational B-spline (NURBS) formats, with ages in 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 18 years, and adult male and female, as well as four pregnant women in early pregnancy, first trimester, second trimester, and third trimester. The development process involved image segmentation, NURBS reconstruction, and voxelization based on whole-body computed tomography (CT) scans of 22 original individual patients. Reference organ masses were directly obtained from the Chinese Reference Human Anatomical Physiological and Metabolic Data, as well as international commission on radiological protection (ICRP) Publication 89.

Data format and usage notes: Voxelized phantoms are accessible in DAT format as raw data, which can be opened by medical imaging softwares such as a medical image data analysis tool (AMIDE). Excel files contain descriptive information (ages, genders, phantom sizes, voxel sizes, organ masses, densities) and organ absorbed doses on ${}^{18}F-FDG$ application. All data in this study can be obtained from our official website (https://alldigitaltwins.com) and Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/records/14268606).

Potential applications: This work offers a collection of open-source age-dependent phantoms featuring anatomical data specific to the Chinese population. Researchers can utilize this dataset to modify and adapt the phantoms for specific applications, fostering innovation and progress, and enhancing accuracy and applicability in various fields.