System and method for manufacturing bolus for radiotherapy using a three-dimensional printer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11426602-B2
Application number	US-201916427444-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2019
Priority date	Nov 27, 2013
Publication date	Aug 30, 2022
Grant date	Aug 30, 2022

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage devices for manufacturing patient-specific bolus for use in targeted radiotherapy treatment. Based on dose calculations without a bolus and based on three-dimensional scan data of a patient, the example system generates a model of a bolus for targeting radiotherapy treatment to a planning target volume or target region within the patient. The system can perform several iterations to generate a resulting model for the bolus. Then, the system can generate instructions for controlling a three-dimensional printer to generate the bolus that conforms to the patient's skin surface while also specifically targeting the planning target volume for the radiotherapy treatment. In this way, the amount of radiotherapy treatment administered to other tissue is reduced, while the costs, time, and human involvement in creating the bolus are significantly reduced.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for controlling a dose delivered to a patient during radiation therapy, the apparatus comprising:
a patient-specific radiation bolus having an inner patient-facing surface and an outer beam-incident surface;
said inner patient-facing surface being configured to conform to a surface of the patient;
said outer beam-incident surface being shaped to spatially modulate the dose delivered to the patient when said inner patient-facing surface is placed against the patient and radiation is transmitted through said patient-specific radiation bolus during a radiation therapy procedure;
said patient-specific radiation bolus having formed therein a dosimeter cavity configured for removable insertion of a radiation dosimeter for performing in-vivo dosimetry during the radiation therapy procedure, such that the radiation dosimeter is removable from said dosimeter cavity after the radiation therapy procedure, said dosimeter cavity being located such that when the radiation dosimeter is inserted into said patient-specific radiation bolus and said patient-specific radiation bolus is contacted with the patient, the radiation dosimeter resides proximal to the surface of the patient.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said dosimeter cavity is located such that when the radiation dosimeter is inserted into the dosimeter cavity, the radiation dosimeter is located proximal to the surface of the patient.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein a shape of the dosimeter cavity is configured such that only a selected type of radiation dosimeter will fit within the dosimeter cavity.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a restraining mechanism for removably restraining the radiation dosimeter within said dosimeter cavity.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said dosimeter cavity is configured for removable insertion of a radiation dosimeter type selected from the group consisting of ionization chambers, diodes, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors, radiographic film, radiochromic film, diamond detectors, and optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said outer beam-incident surface is shaped to modulate a dose delivered to the patient when said inner patient-facing surface is placed against the patient and electron radiation is transmitted through said patient-specific radiation bolus during an electron radiation therapy procedure.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said patient-specific radiation bolus comprises multiple layers formed via a three-dimensional printing process.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a patient-specific immobilization mesh configured to support the patient-specific radiation bolus against the surface of the patient, wherein said patient-specific radiation bolus is integrally formed with said patient-specific immobilization mesh, and wherein said patient-specific immobilization mesh conforms to the surface of the patient.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8 further comprising a securing means to secure said patient-specific immobilization mesh relative to the patient.

10. A method of performing in-vivo dosimetry during a radiation therapy procedure, the method comprising:
providing an apparatus according to claim 1 ;
inserting a radiation dosimeter into the dosimeter cavity;
gathering in-vivo dosimetry data from the radiation dosimeter during the radiation therapy procedure; and
after performing the radiation therapy procedure, removing the radiation dosimeter from the dosimeter cavity.

11. A method of fabricating a patient-specific radiation bolus, the method comprising:
processing data comprising (i) three-dimensional scan data associated with a patient, (ii) a planning target volume, and (iii) a first dose calculation associated with a treatment goal to obtain a target bolus model, the target bolus model having an inner patient-facing surface and an outer beam-incident surface, wherein the inner patient-facing surface is configured to conform to a surface of the patient and the outer beam-incident surface is configured spatially modulate the dose delivered to the patient during a radiation therapy procedure;
modifying the target bolus model to obtain a modified target bolus model configured such that a patient-specific radiation bolus fabricated according to the modified target bolus model includes a dosimeter cavity configured for removable insertion of a radiation dosimeter for performing in-vivo dosimetry during the radiation therapy procedure, and such that the radiation dosimeter is removable from said dosimeter cavity after the radiation therapy procedure; and
fabricating the patient-specific radiation bolus according to the modified target bolus model;
wherein the dosimeter cavity is located such that when the radiation dosimeter is inserted into the patient-specific radiation bolus and the patient-specific radiation bolus is contacted with the patient, the radiation dosimeter resides proximal to the surface of the patient.

12. The method according to claim 11 wherein the patient-specific radiation bolus is fabricated by three-dimensional printing.

13. The method according to claim 11 wherein the target bolus model is modified such that when the radiation dosimeter is inserted into the dosimeter cavity of the patient-specific radiation bolus, the radiation dosimeter is located proximal to the surface of the patient.

14. The method according to claim 11 wherein the target bolus model is modified such that only a selected type of radiation dosimeter will fit within the dosimeter cavity of the patient-specific radiation bolus.

15. The method according to claim 11 wherein the patient-specific radiation bolus is fabricated to include a restraining mechanism for removably restraining the radiation dosimeter within the dosimeter cavity.

16. The method according to claim 11 wherein the target bolus model is modified such that the dosimeter cavity of the patient-specific radiation bolus is configured for removable insertion of a radiation dosimeter type selected from the group consisting of ionization chambers, diodes, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors, radiographic film, radiochromic film, diamond detectors, and optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters.

17. The method according to claim 11 wherein the target bolus model is generated according to an electron radiation therapy procedure.

18. The method according to claim 11 further comprising processing the three-dimensional scan data associated with the patient to obtain a model of a patient-specific immobilization mesh configured to support the patient-specific radiation bolus against the surface of the patient; and
fabricating the patient-specific immobilization mesh such that the patient-specific radiation bolus is supported by and integrally formed with the patient-specific immobilization mesh.

19. The method according to claim 18 wherein the patient-specific immobilization mesh and the patient-specific radiation bolus are formed via three-dimensional printing.

20. The method according to claim 18 wherein the patient-specific immobilization mesh is fabricated to include a securing means to secure the patient-specific immobilization mesh relative to the patient.

Assignees

• Univ Dalhousie
• Adaptiiv Medical Tech Inc

Inventors

• Robar James
• Su Shiqin

Classifications

• A61N2005/1097

  Means for immobilizing the patient · CPC title

• A61B6/032 Primary

  Transmission computed tomography [CT] · CPC title

• B29K2067/046

  PLA, i.e. polylactic acid or polylactide · CPC title

• A61N5/1075

  for testing, calibrating, or quality assurance of the radiation treatment apparatus · CPC title

• G16H50/30

  for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment · CPC title