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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2014

S. D. Laycock ,
M. Hulse ,
C. D. Scrase ,
M. D. Tam ,
S. Isherwood ,
D. B. Mortimore ,
D. Emmens ,
J. Patman ,
S. C. Short  and
G. D. Bell
S. D. Laycock*
Affiliation:
School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
M. Hulse
Affiliation:
Department of Health Studies, University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich, UK
C. D. Scrase
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Oncology, Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust, Ipswich, UK
M. D. Tam
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Southend, UK Postgraduate Medical Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, UK
S. Isherwood
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Oncology, Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust, Ipswich, UK
D. B. Mortimore
Affiliation:
Newbourne Solutions Ltd, Newbourne, Woodbridge, UK
D. Emmens
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Oncology, Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust, Ipswich, UK
J. Patman
Affiliation:
Department of Health Studies, University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich, UK
S. C. Short
Affiliation:
Leeds Institute of Cancer Studies and Pathology, University of Leeds and St James’s Institute of Oncology, Leeds, UK
G. D. Bell
Affiliation:
School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK East Anglian Experimental Radiography, Modelling and 3D Printing Group, School of Science, Technology and Health, University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich, UK
*
Correspondence to: Stephen D. Laycock, School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK. Tel: +44(0)1603 593795; E-mail: sdl@cmp.uea.ac.uk
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Abstract

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.

Keywords

Immobilization3D PrintingRadiotherapy treatment shells
Type
Technical Note
Information
Journal of Radiotherapy in Practice , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 92 - 98
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2014 

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