Additive manufacturing in radiation oncology: a review of clinical practice, emerging trends and research opportunities
Rance Tino, Martin Leary, Adam Yeo, E. Kyriakou, Tomas Kron, Milan Brandt
Abstract
Abstract The additive manufacturing (AM) process plays an important role in enabling cross-disciplinary research in engineering and personalised medicine. Commercially available clinical tools currently utilised in radiotherapy are typically based on traditional manufacturing processes, often leading to non-conformal geometries, time-consuming manufacturing process and high costs. An emerging application explores the design and development of patient-specific clinical tools using AM to optimise treatment outcomes among cancer patients receiving radiation therapy. In this review, we: • highlight the key advantages of AM in radiotherapy where rapid prototyping allows for patient-specific manufacture • explore common clinical workflows involving radiotherapy tools such as bolus, compensators, anthropomorphic phantoms, immobilisers, and brachytherapy moulds; and • investigate how current AM processes are exploited by researchers to achieve patient tissue-like imaging and dose attenuations. Finally, significant AM research opportunities in this space are highlighted for their future advancements in radiotherapy for diagnostic and clinical research applications.