Introducing Dansk Fantom Service / Danish Phantom Design
Danish Phantom Design is based in Frederikssund
not far from Copenhagen, Denmark.
Its owner, Knud-Erik
Fredfeldt M.D., started hand-producing phantoms for testing the
equipment he worked with daily as a doctor at the ultrasound
department at Herlev Hospital, Denmark from 1982-1986.
In 1986,
when Danish Phantom Design was founded, the production amounted to
a total of 20 custom-designed phantoms. Business has expanded
considerably ever since: the number of phantoms sold now exceeds
1400.
Universities, hospitals and manufacturers of ultrasound
equipment and accessories in and outside Scandinavia are now
satisfied users of products from Danish Phantom Design.
Knud-Erik
Fredfeldt, M.D. started producing phantoms for his personal use 20
years ago. Now, what started more or less as a hobby has grown
into an industry where handmade quality still prevails.
Why use a Phantom?
Most users of ultrasound scan themselves or some other person when evaluating new ultrasound equipment for purchase or when testing current equipment. It can, however, be difficult objectively and quickly to assess whether a particular imaging problem is due to the equipment or to the persons being scanned. Furthermore, regulations for quality assurance of diagnostic imaging equipment are currently under preparation in the US and Europe. In the near future, routine QA tests will be mandatory.
The Objective Approach
With a phantom, you can evaluate most of the
factors decisive for image quality both objectively and
immediately.
In the daily routine, the evaluation of important
image quality parameters such as:
geometry
detail resolution
contrast
resolution
scan plane thickness
axial resolution
penetration
homogeneity and
speckle pattern
can be performed within minutes to ensure the sharpest ultrasound images.
Performance checking with a phantom requires little instruction. In contrast to a live model, the phantom is stabile over time. This gives you the additional possibility of monitoring the long-term health of your equipment by taking hard copies of phantom images at regular intervals and compare to images taken previously.
Performance checking of the ultrasound equipment
with phantoms is a routine matter. For documentation purposes,
hard copies can be kept for later comparison.
Danish Phantom
Design has phantoms available for performance tests of scanner,
transducers and documentation units. Ask for further information
from your supplier. For custom-designed phantoms, kindly contact
Danish Phantom Design.
Wide Range of Standard Phantoms:
A wide range of task-specific standard models are now available, including phantoms for testing Doppler systems.
As an experienced user of ultrasound, Knud-Erik Fredfeldt knows how to design and manufacture phantoms that will put the equipment to the most revealing tests. Without exception, the task-specific standard phantoms represent the result of many years of continuous research.
To avoid compromising, each phantom is refined to test specific parameters of your equipment. Should you require phantoms to test all parameters, a full set can be acquired at a reasonable price.
All phantoms are carefully handmade from selected raw materials. What is actually inside the container is chosen, proportioned and positioned to ensure optimal performance for the intended application. Currently, Danish Phantom Design can offer low-priced standard phantoms for the following
B-mode parameters:
Geometry testing of entire ultrasound equipment
Testing of transducer:
Penetration
Detail and contrast resolution
Side- and grating Lobes
Elevation plane focusing
Axial resolution
Biopsy training
Doppler parameters: