Fabrication of malleable three-dimensional-printed customized bolus using three-dimensional scanner

A three-dimensional (3D)-printed customized bolus (3D bolus) can be used for radiotherapy application to irregular surfaces. However, bolus fabrication based on computed tomography (CT) scans is complicated and also delivers unwanted irradiation. Consequently, we fabricated a bolus using a 3D scanner and evaluated its efficacy. The head of an Alderson Rando phantom was scanned with a 3D scanner. The 3D surface data were exported and reconstructed with Geomagic Design X software. A 3D bolus of 5-mm thickness designed to fit onto the nose was printed with the use of rubber-like printing material, and a radiotherapy plan was developed. We successfully fabricated the customized 3D bolus, and further, a CT simulation indicated an acceptable fit of the 3D bolus to the nose. There was no air gap between the bolus and the phantom surface. The percent depth dose (PDD) curve of the phantom with the 3D bolus showed an enhanced surface dose when compared with that of the phantom without the bolus. The PDD of the 3D bolus was comparable with that of a commercial superflab bolus. The radiotherapy plan considering the 3D bolus showed improved target coverage when compared with that without the bolus. Thus, we successfully fabricated a customized 3D bolus for an irregular surface using a 3D scanner instead of a CT scanner.

Three-dimensional customized bolus for intensity-modulated radiotherapy in a patient with Kimura's disease involving the auricle

In radiotherapy, a commercial bolus often does not provide a suitable fit over irregular surfaces. To address this issue, we fabricated a customized bolus using 3D printing technology. The aim of our study was to evaluate the application of this 3D-printed bolus in a clinical setting. The patient was a 45-year-old man with recurrent Kimura's disease involving the auricle, receiving radiotherapy in our oncology department. A customized bolus, 5mm in thickness, was fabricated based on reconstruction of computed tomography (CT) images. The bolus was printed on a Dimension 1200 series SST 3D printer. Repeat CT-based simulation indicated an acceptable fit of the 3D-printed bolus to the target region, with a maximum air gap of less than 5mm at the tragus. Most of the surface area of the target region was covered by the 95% isodose line. The plan with the 3D-printed bolus improved target coverage compared to that without a bolus. And the plan with the 3D-printed bolus yielded comparable results to those with the paraffin wax bolus. In conclusion, a customized bolus using a 3D printer was successfully applied to an irregular surface.

Towards the production of radiotherapy treatment shells on 3D printers using data derived from DICOM CT and MRI: preclinical feasibility studies

Background:

Immobilisation for patients undergoing brain or head and neck radiotherapy is achieved using perspex or thermoplastic devices that require direct moulding to patient anatomy. The mould room visit can be distressing for patients and the shells do not always fit perfectly. In addition the mould room process can be time consuming. With recent developments in three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies comes the potential to generate a treatment shell directly from a computer model of a patient. Typically, a patient requiring radiotherapy treatment will have had a computed tomography (CT) scan and if a computer model of a shell could be obtained directly from the CT data it would reduce patient distress, reduce visits, obtain a close fitting shell and possibly enable the patient to start their radiotherapy treatment more quickly.

Purpose:

This paper focuses on the first stage of generating the front part of the shell and investigates the dosimetric properties of the materials to show the feasibility of 3D printer materials for the production of a radiotherapy treatment shell.

Materials and methods:

Computer algorithms are used to segment the surface of the patient’s head from CT and MRI datasets. After segmentation approaches are used to construct a 3D model suitable for printing on a 3D printer. To ensure that 3D printing is feasible the properties of a set of 3D printing materials are tested.

Conclusions:

The majority of the possible candidate 3D printing materials tested result in very similar attenuation of a therapeutic radiotherapy beam as the Orfit soft-drape masks currently in use in many UK radiotherapy centres. The costs involved in 3D printing are reducing and the applications to medicine are becoming more widely adopted. In this paper we show that 3D printing of bespoke radiotherapy masks is feasible and warrants further investigation.