A process of efficient bolus shaping for cancer care
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Date
2020
Authors
Sohrabi Ghareh Tappeh, Zohreh
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Abstract
In cancer therapy, tumorous cells are ruined without damaging to healthy tissues. External-Beam Radiotherapy is one of the most popular approaches for cancer treatment. Megavoltage photon beams from a linear accelerator are employed for rotating around a targeted area of patients from different angles to eradicate cancerous tissues. Bolus is a sheet of material with a uniform thickness (usually 10 mm) to cover the skin surface to minimize damage to healthy tissues while keeping the desired dose. The use of the bolus can increase the surface dose and improve the dosage distribution. The existing clinical method of shaping the bolus to cover patient's surface is a manual process based on trial and error. A significant problem of the existing method is air gaps that are generated between the bolus and the patient's skin, which results in the lower distribution of dosage. 3D printing is also an approach to form the bolus, but this process is time-consuming and limited to certain types of materials. The objective of this research is to develop a process for bolus shaping to reduce air gaps and improve efficiency of the bolus fabrication. 3D scanned data of the target surface are simplified with different methods to find the best approach to fit the need of this work. Different tools are used to generate 2D shape patterns from the simplified 3D models. The generated 2D patterns and features of the tools are studied. The 2D patterns are cut using a laser cutting machine and folded back to the 3D bolus shape. Fabricated 3D bolus models are evaluated by comparing them with original design shapes, which shows the satisfaction to meet requirements of the bolus application.
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Keywords
3D modeling, Cancer Care, Bolus, Simplification, Unfolding, Folding, Air gap