Program Information
A Novel Design Method to Create a Patient Specific 3D Printed Bolus for Use in Electron Therapy
G Gibbard*, M Porter ,G Kalantzis , Florida Alantic University, Boca Rotan, Florida
Presentations
SU-I-GPD-T-68 (Sunday, July 30, 2017) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Room: Exhibit Hall
Purpose: To develop and validate a novel technique for patient specific 3D printed boluses
Methods: Superficial lesion CT scans were obtained for the nose and ear. Bolus structures were created so that 100% of PTV was covered by the 90% isodose. The dicom files were export and implement by an in-house program which converted the structures into an STL. file which smoothed the voxelized structure. The STL. file was implemented by two different slicing software for use with a Flashforge (FF) Creator X 3D printer (.1mm resolution), or the 3D Systems (3DS) ProJet CJP 360 printer (0.1mm resolution). The prints where either a completely solid structure or the inside was hollowed out leaving a 1-2mm boundary to be filled with paraffin wax (PW), super stuff (SS) or water. The source materials for the printers include polylactic acid (PLA) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic, 90% Calcium Sulphate Hemihydrate (CaSO4ยท~0.5H2O) for the FF and 3DS respectively. The 3D printed boluses were re-scanned with resolutions of 0.625mm, 1.25mm and 2.5mm, then the heterogeneity, artifacts and resolution were analyzed TPS with each substance.
Results: The 3D printed boluses from the 3DS and FF printer resolutions were adequate. The heterogeneity from PLA and ABS to PW, SS or water in the bolus was negligible. At a resolution of 0.625mm slice thickness caused bubble artifacts to appeared for all medium but were most pronounced for paraffin wax, these artifacts were seen at 1.25mm still seen in paraffin wax but to a much smaller degree for all medium, and at 2.5mm the effect was negligible.
Conclusion: The patient specific bolus supplemented with PW, SS, or water provided pragmatic way keep the bolus tissue equivalent providing homogeneity while cutting down on materials and time needed to print, increasing the option that can utilized in a clinical setting.
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