An easily made, low-cost phantom for ultrasound airway exam training and assessment

BACKGROUND: Recent manuscripts have described the use of ultrasound imaging to evaluate airway structures. Ultrasound training tools are necessary for practitioners to become proficient at obtaining and interpreting images. Few training tools exist and those that do can often times be expensive and rendered useless with repeated needle passes. METHODS: We utilised inexpensive and easy to obtain materials to create a gel phantom model for ultrasound-guided airway examination training. RESULTS: Following creation of the gel phantom model, images were successfully obtained of the thyroid and cricoid cartilages, cricothyroid membrane and tracheal rings in both the sagittal transverse planes. CONCLUSION: The gel phantom model mimics human airway anatomy and may be used for ultrasound-guided airway assessment and intervention training. This may have important safety implications as ultrasound imaging is increasingly used for airway assessment.