A Simple, Realistic, Inexpensive Nerve Phantom

Ultrasound-guided nerve blocks are common techniques in several medical specialties. Phantoms are commonly used when teaching these procedures. Commercial phantoms are expensive, and most previously published “homemade” nerve phantoms have a substantial amount of posterior shadowing, making it difficult to visualize the needle posterior to the simulated nerve. We have constructed a simple and easy-to-make nerve block phantom using a hot dog core embedded in a gelatin–psyllium hydrophilic mucilloid fiber mixture that has little to no posterior shadowing.