Project R-12952

Development of a 3D printed anthropomorphic dynamic phantom for 3D and 4D radiotherapy. (Research)

Cancer is a serious disease that represents a significant burden on any country's health care system with millions of cases worldwide. More than 50% of cancer patients are treated with radiotherapy. This treatment aims to maximise radiation damage to the tumour while sparing healthy tissues, requiring accurate patient-specific information to optimise treatment delivery. Modern radiotherapy equipment can deliver highly modulated radiation beams dynamically moving around the patient. However, treatment delivery accuracy can be affected by patient complexities such as breathing motion. This is commonly mitigated by irradiating a larger area around the tumour, ensuring target coverage but also irradiating additional healthy tissue. Calculation methods have been developed to account for motion but lack proper verification since dosimetry is commonly performed using static water tanks that do not account for patients' specificities such as anatomy, tissue composition and breathing motion. Some basic movable phantoms are available but they are only able to reproduce very basic translations. We propose to develop a prototype for the next generation of deformable phantoms with realistic deformable anatomy, pushing the boundaries of dosimetry in radiotherapy. Such phantoms can have a major impact and should be accessible to other centres. Therefore, the commercial exploitations will be explored in parallel to this research program.

01 October 2022 - 30 September 2026