(Sunday, 7/29/2018) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Room: Exhibit Hall
Purpose: To institute a system and processes for rapid prototyping in a joint clinical and research setting
Methods: Clinical and research staff were consulted to determine required features and design specifications 3D printing. Market research was conducted and candidate printers compared on features including; type (FDM, STL etc), build volume, print resolution, material variety, capital/running costs, open/closed source and availability of local support. Local processes were established for clinical printing using MiM software® to convert contours to .stl files, these were then pre-processed in Meshmixer® before printing using Cura®. A number of clinical bolus applications are under investigation, comparing features to the standard approach including relative electron density, conformality and dosimetry. TinkerCAD®, Meshmixer®, SolidWorks® and SketchupTM were used for bespoke part design that were not based on patient or phantom CT scans.
Results: The Lulzbot® TAZ6 was chosen based on surveyed requirements, budget and market research. Clinical applications for 3D printing under investigation include nose, chest wall and breast bolus and personalised mouth bungs. The relative electron density of the print materials PolyLite PLATM is 1.12±0.02 and for NinjaFlex® 0.98±0.02. Improvement in conformity of chest wall bolus compared to standard Superflab® was 3 mm compared to 8 mm air gaps. Research applications include, printing of non-metal components for MRI simulator and MRLinac, brackets and holders for dosimeters and radiomics phantoms.
Conclusion: 3D printing is proving to be a valuable tool for both bespoke research and clinical applications within a large academic research department.
Funding Support, Disclosures, and Conflict of Interest: Licencing agreement Standard Imaging Inc
Keywords
Taxonomy
TH- External beam- photons: Development (new technology and techniques)
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