A 3D-printed patient-specific applicator guide for use in high-dose-rate interstitial brachytherapy for tongue cancer: a phantom study.

A 3D-printed patient-specific applicator guide for use in high-dose-rate interstitial brachytherapy for tongue cancer: a phantom study. Phys Med Biol. 2019 Jun 06;: Authors: Choi CH, Kim JI, Park JM Abstract A patient-specific applicator guide system (PSAG) for tongue-cancer high-dose-rate (HDR) interstitial brachytherapy (ISBT) was developed by utilizing a 3D printing technique. An effectiveness of the 3D-printed PSAG (3D-PSAG) was evaluated for HDR ISBT. Six patients with tongue cancer were retrospectively selected for this study. For each patient, a total of three virtual clinical target volumes (CTV) requiring the insertion of four catheters (CTV4), six catheters (CTV6), and eight catheters (CTV8) were defined. For each CTV, treatment plans were generated to deliver 45 Gy in nine fractions. The 3D-PSAG was fabricated using a 3D-printer and the patient's CT-images. The resulting 3D-PSAG took the form of a shell conforming to the patient's contours with tubes for catheter insertion. For each CTV, catheters were inserted into the phantom with and without the 3D-PSAG. After that, CT-images of the phantom with the inserted catheters were acquired. Differences between the planned positions and those of the actually inserted catheters were evaluated from the CT-images. Given the actual catheter insertion positions, the dose distributions were reconstructed and analyzed. The maximum positional errors with and without the 3D-PSAG were 0.2...
Source: Physics in Medicine and Biology - Category: Physics Authors: Tags: Phys Med Biol Source Type: research