Program Information
3D Printed Patient Specific Phantom Composed of Bone and Soft Tissue Substitute Plastics for Radiation Therapy
E Ehler*, D Sterling , P Higgins , University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Presentations
SU-C-213-1 (Sunday, July 12, 2015) 1:00 PM - 1:55 PM Room: 213
Purpose: 3D printed phantoms constructed of multiple tissue approximating materials could be useful in both clinical and research aspects of radiotherapy. This work describes a 3D printed phantom constructed with tissue substitute plastics for both bone and soft tissue; air cavities were included as well.
Methods: 3D models of an anonymized nasopharynx patient were generated for air cavities, soft tissues, and bone, which were segmented by Hounsfield Unit (HU) thresholds. HU thresholds were chosen to define air-to-soft tissue boundaries of 0.65 g/cc and soft tissue-to-bone boundaries of 1.18 g/cc based on clinical HU to density tables. After evaluation of several composite plastics, a bone tissue substitute was identified as an acceptable material for typical radiotherapy x-ray energies, composed of iron and PLA plastic. PET plastic was determined to be an acceptable soft tissue substitute. 3D printing was performed on a consumer grade dual extrusion fused deposition model 3D printer.
Results: MVCT scans of the 3D printed heterogeneous phantom were acquired. Rigid image registration of the patient and the 3D printed phantom scans was performed. The average physical density of the soft tissue and bone regions was 1.02 ± 0.08 g/cc and 1.39 ± 0.14 g/cc, respectively, for the patient kVCT scan. In the 3D printed phantom MVCT scan, the average density of the soft tissue and bone was 1.01 ± 0.09 g/cc and 1.44 ± 0.12 g/cc, respectively.
Conclusion: A patient specific phantom, constructed of heterogeneous tissue substitute materials was constructed by 3D printing. MVCT of the 3D printed phantom showed realistic tissue densities were recreated by the 3D printing materials.
Funding Support, Disclosures, and Conflict of Interest: Funding provided by intra-department grant by University of Minnesota Department of Radiation Oncology
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