Feasibility of Fabricating Variable Density Phantoms Using 3D Printing for Quality Assurance (QA) in Radiotherapy

Se An Oh; Min Jeong Kim; Ji Su Kang; Hyeon Seok Hwang; Young Jin Kim; Seong Hoon Kim; Jae Won Park; Ji Woon Yea; Sung Kyu Kim

doi:10.14316/pmp.2017.28.3.106

Journal List > Prog Med Phys > v.28(3) > 1098566

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Oh, Kim, Kang, Hwang, Kim, Kim, Park, Yea, and Kim: Feasibility of Fabricating Variable Density Phantoms Using 3D Printing for Quality Assurance (QA) in Radiotherapy

Original Article

Progress in Medical Physics 2017;28(3):106-110.

Published online: 17 September 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14316/pmp.2017.28.3.106

Feasibility of Fabricating Variable Density Phantoms Using 3D Printing for Quality Assurance (QA) in Radiotherapy

Se An Oh^∗, Min Jeong Kim^†, Ji Su Kang^†, Hyeon Seok Hwang^†, Young Jin Kim^†, Seong Hoon Kim^∗, Jae Won Park^∗, Ji Woon Yea^∗, Sung Kyu Kim^∗,

^∗Department of Radiation Oncology, Yeungnam University Medical Center, Daegu, Korea

^†Gyeongnam Science High School, Jinju, Korea

Corresponding author Sung Kyu Kim (skkim3@ynu.ac.kr) Tel: 82-53-620-3373 Fax: 82-53-624-3599

Received 13 September 201727 September 2017 Accepted 28 September 2017

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The variable density phantom fabricated with varying the infill values of 3D printer to provide more accurate dose verification of radiation treatments. A total of 20 samples of rectangular shape were fabricated by using the Finebot^TM (AnyWorks; Korea) Z420 model (width×length×height=50 mm×50 mm×10 mm) varying the infill value from 5% to 100%. The samples were scanned with 1-mm thickness using a Philips Big Bore Brilliance CT Scanner (Philips Medical, Eindhoven, Netherlands). The average Hounsfield Unit (HU) measured by the region of interest (ROI) on the transversal CT images. The average HU and the infill values of the 3D printer measured through the 2D area profile measurement method exhibited a strong linear relationship (adjusted R-square=0.99563) in which the average HU changed from -926.8 to 36.7, while the infill values varied from 5% to 100%. This study showed the feasibility fabricating variable density phantoms using the 3D printer with FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling)-type and PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) materials.

Keywords: Variable density phantom, 3D Printer, Infill value, Hounsfield unit

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Fig. 1.

A total of 20 samples with dimensions (width×length×height=50 mm×50 mm×10 mm) were fabricated for infill values ranging from 5% to 100% by using Finebot^TM (AnyWorks; Korea) Z420 3D printer model.

Fig. 2.

(a) Photograph of samples with infill values from 5% to 100%, (b) Frontal image of samples with infill values from 5% to 100% obtained by CT scan.

Fig. 3.

(a) HU was measured by using a two-dimensional area profile function at the center of the sample on a transversal image by CT scan. (b) Horizontal ROI Profile, vertical ROI Profile, pixel statistics, and ROI for the measured area of the sample with infill value of 5%.

Fig. 4.

Correlation between infill value (%) and Hounsfield unit (HU) of the 3D printer.

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