Wegner Marie, Frenzel Thorsten, Krause Dieter, Gargioni Elisabetta
Institute of Product Development and Mechanical Engineering Design, Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany.
Department of Radiotherapy and Radiation Oncology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Phys Med Biol. 2023 Apr 5;68(8). doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/acc566.
. In radiation oncology, experiments are often carried out using mice as a model forresearch studies. Due to recent technological advances in the development of high-precision small-animal irradiation facilities, the importance of quality assurance for both dosimetry and imaging is increasing. Additive manufacturing (AM) offers the possibility to produce complex models from a three-dimensional data set and to build cost-effective phantoms that can easily be adapted to different purposes. The aim of this work was therefore to develop detailed anatomical mouse models for quality assurance and end-to-end testing of small-animal irradiation and imaging by means of AM.. Two mouse phantom concepts were designed, constructed, and examined for this purpose. The first model includes cavities corresponding to the most important organs. The final solid model was constructed using AM in two separate parts that can be attached with a plug connection after filling these cavities with tissue-equivalent mixtures. Moreover, different radiation dosimeters can be placed in the lower part of the model. For the second concept, AM was used for building modules like the phantom outer shell and bones, so that different mixtures can be used as a filling, without modifying the phantom structure.CT as well as Micro-CT scans of both concepts showed an excellent quality and adequate image contrast, with material attenuation properties close to those of mouse tissues, apart from the current bone surrogates. Radiation dose measurements with radiochromic films were, with some exceptions in areas with larges bone volumes, in agreement with calculations within less than ±4%.. AM shows great potential for the development of mouse models that are inexpensive, easy to adapt, and accurate, thus enabling their use for quality assurance in small-animal radiotherapy and imaging. The introduction of such 3D-printable mouse phantoms in the workflow could also significantly reduce the use of living animals for optimization and testing of new imaging and irradiation protocols.
在放射肿瘤学中，实验通常以小鼠为模型进行研究。由于高精度小动物辐照设备开发方面的最新技术进展，剂量测定和成像质量保证的重要性日益增加。增材制造（AM）提供了从三维数据集生成复杂模型并构建经济高效的体模的可能性，这些体模可以轻松适应不同目的。因此，这项工作的目的是通过增材制造开发详细的解剖学小鼠模型，用于小动物辐照和成像的质量保证和端到端测试。为此设计、构建并检查了两种小鼠体模概念。第一个模型包括对应于最重要器官的腔体。最终的实体模型通过增材制造分两个单独部分构建，在这些腔体用组织等效混合物填充后，可以通过插头连接进行组装。此外，不同的辐射剂量计可以放置在模型的下部。对于第二个概念，增材制造用于构建诸如体模外壳和骨骼之类的模块，这样可以使用不同的混合物作为填充物，而无需修改体模结构。两种概念的CT以及微型CT扫描均显示出优异的质量和足够的图像对比度，除了目前的骨替代物外，材料衰减特性与小鼠组织接近。使用放射变色胶片进行的辐射剂量测量，除了在大骨体积区域有一些例外情况外，与计算结果的偏差在±4%以内。增材制造在开发廉价、易于适应且准确的小鼠模型方面显示出巨大潜力，从而使其能够用于小动物放射治疗和成像的质量保证。在工作流程中引入这种3D可打印小鼠体模还可以显著减少用于优化和测试新成像和辐照方案的活体动物的使用。
