International efforts to standardize emerging biomedical imaging approaches, such as photoacoustic imaging (PAI), require stable physical phantoms to enable routine quality control and robust performance evaluation across devices. Addressing this necessity, the International Photoacoustic Standardization Consortium (IPASC) has undertaken a consensus-finding exercise to establish recommendations for the properties of tissue-mimicking phantom materials and their characterization in the field of PAI. The manufacturing reproducibility of a stable copolymer-in-oil tissue-mimicking material fulfilling these recommendations was tested in an international multi-center study involving n=18 different partner sites. Here, the progress made toward these standardization efforts is outlined, highlighting prospects, challenges, and future trajectories.
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