Open AccessPotential of 3D printing technologies for fabrication of electron bolus and proton compensators
Author(s) -
Zou Wei,
Fisher Ted,
Zhang Miao,
Kim Leonard,
Chen Ting,
Narra Venkat,
Swann Beth,
Singh Rachana,
Siderit Richard,
Yin Lingshu,
Teo Boonkeng Kevin,
Mckenna Michael,
McDonough James,
Ning Yue J.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of applied clinical medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.83
H-Index - 48
ISSN - 1526-9914
DOI - 10.1120/jacmp.v16i3.4959
Subject(s) - bolus (digestion) , materials science , fabrication , 3d printing , proton , biomedical engineering , imaging phantom , electron , cathode ray , computer science , nuclear medicine , composite material , physics , surgery , medicine , nuclear physics , alternative medicine , pathology
In electron and proton radiotherapy, applications of patient‐specific electron bolus or proton compensators during radiation treatments are often necessary to accommodate patient body surface irregularities, tissue inhomogeneity, and variations in PTV depths to achieve desired dose distributions. Emerging 3D printing technologies provide alternative fabrication methods for these bolus and compensators. This study investigated the potential of utilizing 3D printing technologies for the fabrication of the electron bolus and proton compensators. Two printing technologies, fused deposition modeling (FDM) and selective laser sintering (SLS), and two printing materials, PLA and polyamide, were investigated. Samples were printed and characterized with CT scan and under electron and proton beams. In addition, a software package was developed to convert electron bolus and proton compensator designs to printable Standard Tessellation Language file format. A phantom scalp electron bolus was printed with FDM technology with PLA material. The HU of the printed electron bolus was 106.5 ± 15.2 . A prostate patient proton compensator was printed with SLS technology and polyamide material with − 70.1 ± 8.1 HU. The profiles of the electron bolus and proton compensator were compared with the original designs. The average over all the CT slices of the largest Euclidean distance between the design and the fabricated bolus on each CT slice was found to be 0.84 ± 0.45 mm and for the compensator to be 0.40 ± 0.42 mm . It is recommended that the properties of specific 3D printed objects are understood before being applied to radiotherapy treatments. PACS number: 81.40