<![CDATA[Routine ultrasound (USG) calibration is essential for maintaining diagnostic accuracy, yet the high cost of commercial phantoms remains a significant barrier. This study aimed to develop an affordable agar-based USG phantom and evaluate its performance across five image quality parameters: vertical and horizontal distance accuracy, grayscale uniformity, penetration and attenuation, and slice thickness. The phantom was assessed using a Mindray DP-10 system equipped with a 4.5 MHz convex probe. Results demonstrated mean percentage errors of 0.803% for vertical distance and 1.860% for horizontal distance, both within the tolerances prescribed by AAPM TG-128. Grayscale uniformity yielded a mean coefficient of variation of 8.77%, exceeding the 5% threshold, presumably attributable to non-uniform graphite dispersion. Penetration error was recorded at 0.275%, while the attenuation coefficient was measured at 0.6466 dB/cm/MHz, approximating the soft tissue reference value. Slice thickness was determined to be 0.1885 cm. In comparison with a commercial CRIS, phantom, the fabricated phantom exhibited superior vertical accuracy and comparable horizontal accuracy. These findings indicate that the agar-based phantom constitutes a viable, low-cost alternative for USG quality assurance, contingent upon optimization of graphite dispersion to enhance grayscale uniformity..]]>
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