{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T04:35:06Z","timestamp":1787027706737,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,10]],"date-time":"2025-02-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1739145600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002347","name":"Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the Research Campus STIMULATE","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["13GW0473A"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["13GW0473A"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002347","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Bioengineering"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Objectives: Anthropomorphic phantoms offer a promising solution to minimize animal testing, enable medical training, and support the efficient development of medical devices. The adjustable mechanical, biochemical, and imaging properties of the polyvinyl alcohol cryogel (PVA-C) make it an appropriate phantom material for mimicking soft tissues. Conventional manufacturing (CM) of aqueous solutions requires constant stirring, using a heated water bath, and monitoring. Methods: To explore potential improvements in the dissolution of PVA crystals in water, a microwave-based manufacturing method (MWM) was employed. Samples created using CM and MWM (n = 14 each) were compared. Because PVA-C is a multifunctional phantom material (e.g., in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)), its MRI properties (T1\/T2 relaxation times) and elasticity were determined. Results: T1 relaxation times did not significantly differ between the two methods (p = 0.3577), whereas T2 and elasticity for the MWM were significantly higher than those for the CM (p &lt; 0.001). The MWM reduced the production time by 11% and decreased active user involvement by 93%. Conclusions: The MWM offers a promising, easily implementable, and time-efficient method for manufacturing PVA-C-based phantoms. Nevertheless, manufacturing-related microstructural properties and sample molding require further study.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bioengineering12020171","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,11]],"date-time":"2025-02-11T05:34:32Z","timestamp":1739252072000},"page":"171","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Microwave-Assisted Optimization of Polyvinyl Alcohol Cryogel (PVA-C) Manufacturing for MRI Phantom Production"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6089-7655","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ivan","family":"Vogt","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Campus STIMULATE, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany"},{"name":"Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0367-4628","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Martin","family":"Volk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Magdeburg, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emma-Luise","family":"Kulzer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Campus STIMULATE, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-1890-2283","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Janis","family":"Seibt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Campus STIMULATE, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany"},{"name":"Department Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7140-6775","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maciej","family":"Pech","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Campus STIMULATE, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany"},{"name":"Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Magdeburg, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2215-150X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Georg","family":"Rose","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Campus STIMULATE, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany"},{"name":"Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0826-0734","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Oliver S.","family":"Grosser","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Campus STIMULATE, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany"},{"name":"Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Magdeburg, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"479","article-title":"From in vivo to in vitro: The medical device testing paradigm shift","volume":"34","author":"Myers","year":"2017","journal-title":"ALTEX-Altern. 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