Intracavitary (IC) brachytherapy modality has been traditionally offering a vast number of commercially available generic applicators, i.e. one-size-fits-all-patients, thus there has been very little or no opportunity to customize shape, size and direction of source trajectory paths in respect to a specific patient anatomy.
Therefore, we have introduced a novel software tool for designing personalized IC and IC/IS brachytherapy applicators, compatible with 3D printing technology and RT equipment.
The purpose of this study is:
- To design software with the following features:
- Importing of applicator contours from TPS via DICOM RT Structure Set file and displaying them over CT/MRI images.
- Importing of optimized source-trajectory paths from TPS via DICOM RT Plan file and subtracting catheter/needle tunnels from the applicator employing user-defined diameters.
- Rendering and exporting of an STL file of the modified applicator compatible with 3D printing technology.
- Designing and exporting of DICOM RT structure set containing the modified applicator which can be imported back to TPS for commissioning and QA purposes.
- To 3D print and evaluate the spatial fidelity of the applicator in respect to the corresponding STL and RT structure and to inspect HU homogeneity and mass density of printed samples.