Performance assessment of an opto-fluidic phantom mimicking porcine liver parenchyma

An implantable, optical oxygenation and perfusion sensor to monitor liver transplants during the two-week period following the transplant procedure is currently being developed. In order to minimize the number of animal experiments required for this research, a phantom that mimics the optical, anatomical, and physiologic flow properties of liver parenchyma is being developed as well. In this work, the suitability of this phantom for liver parenchyma perfusion research was evaluated by direct comparison of phantom perfusion data with data collected from in vivo porcine studies, both using the same prototype perfusion sensor. In vitro perfusion and occlusion experiments were performed on a single-layer and on a three-layer phantom perfused with a dye solution possessing the absorption properties of oxygenated hemoglobin. While both phantoms exhibited response patterns similar to the liver parenchyma, the signal measured from the multilayer phantom was three times higher than the single layer phantom and approximately 21 percent more sensitive to in vitro changes in perfusion. Although the multilayer phantom replicated the in vivo flow patterns more closely, the data suggests that both phantoms can be used in vitro to facilitate sensor design.