Use of Novel Anthropomorphic Breast Ultrasound Phantoms for Radiology Resident Education

Purpose: This study evaluated the training and assessment role of anthropomorphic breast ultrasound phantoms which simulated both the morphological and sonographic characteristics of breast tissue, including lesions, in a group of radiology residents at a large academic medical center. Methods: This was a prospective study involving 9 residents across all years (2nd–4th year) of a radiology residency program. Baseline assessments of all residents ability to detect and characterize lesions in P-I were carried out, followed by a two-hour teaching session on the same phantom. All residents underwent a post-training, final assessment on P-II to evaluate changes in their lesion detection rate and ability to correctly characterize the lesions. The two devices (Phantom 1 (P-I) and Phantom 2 (P-II)) were designed and constructed to produce similar realistic sonographic images of breast morphology with a range of embedded pathologies to provide a realistic training experience. Results: The results demonstrated there was a significant increase in both the pooled detection and correct characterization score for all residents pre- and post-training of 26±14% and 17±8%, pConclusions: This study suggests that there is a benefit in including a simulation training workshop with a novel anthropomorphic breast ultrasound training device to a radiology resident education program. Finally, the phantoms used in this study are useful for training and assessment purposes as they provide a life-like simulation of breast tissue to practice ultrasound imaging without direct exposure to patients, in a non-pressured environment