(Sunday, 7/14/2019)
Room: ePoster Forums
Purpose: To accurately estimate the radiation dose to the fetus and assess the uncertainty of fetal position and posture for pregnant patients undergoing diagnostic imaging or radiation therapy treatment.
Methods: Three computational phantom models were obtained using anonymized good quality MRI and CT imaging data for each fetus model as a starting point to construct a complete anatomically realistic fetus, gravid uterus, and placenta. All radiological images in DICOM format were obtained from Vidant Medical Center archives. The adopted methodology started with outlines of fetal organs from radiological images via Velocity Treatment Planning System (TPS) and exported as DICOM-RT object structure which was then imported to Rhinoceros (3D modeling software) for further reconstruction of 3D fetus phantom model sets. All fetal organs were volume-adjusted to match ICRP-89 data records. Since radiotherapy is preferably avoided during the first trimester of pregnancy, our fetus model series age starts from 20, 31, and 35 weeks of pregnancy. Following the design of the models, different fetus postures and locations were considered to represent fetal motion inside the uterus for each trimester of pregnancy guided by ultrasound data. The adult ICRP voxel female model was used to construct the pregnant computational models.
Results: Radiation risks to the fetus are a major concern for pregnant patients undergoing radiation therapy or diagnostic imaging procedures. The developed series of computational pregnant female models can be used to estimate the radiation dose to the fetus and evaluate the risk from radiation exposure due to a particular procedure.
Conclusion: This approach demonstrates that pregnant computational phantoms can be used to estimate fetal organ doses and provide realistic anatomical details that can be useful in risk assessment for pregnant radiotherapy patients if acquiring patient-specific radiological images it not recommended for radiation dose reduction.
Keywords
Not Applicable / None Entered.
Taxonomy
IM- Radiation dose and risk: General (Most Aspects)
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