Tissue compensator fabrication using a simple photographic technique.

A simple method of fabricating photon beam tissue compensators is described. A plaster cast of the patient's surface contours is partially immersed in a mixture of India ink and water to obtain a topographic map relative to a reference plane which is perpendicular to the photon beam. The contours are photographed, and successive contours corresponding to different missing tissue thicknesses are used to fabricate a compensator from lead sheets cut to the same shape with the proper magnification.