Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jul 22;29(3):329-339.
doi: 10.5603/rpor.101092. eCollection 2024.

Design and performance validation of a novel 3d printed thin-walled and transparent electron beam applicators for intraoperative radiation therapy with beam energy up to 12 MeV

Agnieszka Misiarz  1 , Aleksandra Lenartowicz  1 , Przemysław Adrich  1 , Jacek Rzadkiewicz  1 , Sławomir Wronka  1 , Jan Trzuskowski  1 , Marta Kruszyna-Mochalska  2   3 , Bartosz Urbański  3   4 , Beata Adamczyk  5 , Jacek Pracz  6
Affiliations

Design and performance validation of a novel 3d printed thin-walled and transparent electron beam applicators for intraoperative radiation therapy with beam energy up to 12 MeV

Agnieszka Misiarz et al. Rep Pract Oncol Radiother. .

Abstract

A high-energy electron accelerator is used in the treatment of patients in the so-called intraoperative electron radiotherapy (IOERT). The work aimed to present the results of the validation of a new design of an electron beam applicator for use in IOERT. A novel solution was described along with the design optimization method based on Monte Carlo simulations. In this solution, the applicator consists of two parts. The lower exchangeable part collimates the therapeutic field. Measurements were made based on the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard recommendations. The measurement described in the standard has been adapted to the specificity of the intraoperative accelerator Source to Skin Distance - of 60 cm and applicators with a circular cross-sectional area. Measurements were performed for nominal beam energies of 6, 10, and 12 MeV and two therapeutic field diameters of 6 and 10 cm. The dose due to stray X-ray radiation in all energies is less than 0.3% and increases for energies from 6 to 12 MeV by 2.9 times from 0.1 for 6MeV to 0.29 for 12 MeV. The average dose due to leakage radiation also shows an increasing trend and is higher for a 6 cm diameter applicator. Validation confirmed the usefulness of the novel applicator design for clinical applications. Thanks to the use of 3D printing, it was possible to make applicators that are transparent, biocompatible and, at the same time, light and form a beam field with therapeutically useful accuracy, and the leakage radiation does not exceed normative recommendations.

Keywords: IOERT; electron applicator; electron linear accelerator.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interests: Author declare no conflicts of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Intraoperative accelerator AQURE movements
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scheme of an applicator with a diameter of 100 mm designed to be made of a biocompatible transparent material (MED610) for AQURE IOERT accelerator. Enlarged view of the layout of scattering foils in the collimator
Figure 3
Figure 3
Simplified model of the beam forming system used for preliminary design of the primary and secondary scattering foils
Figure 4
Figure 4
Lower part of the applicator. GP — upper thickness of the applicator walls; GD — lower thickness of the applicator walls; DA — total length of the lower part of the applicator; SPN — size of the radiation field determined by the applicator
Figure 6
Figure 6
The geometry of the average absorbed dose outside the M10 area measurement
Figure 5
Figure 5
The beam limiting system geometry for the AQURE accelerator with M and M10 area
Figure 7
Figure 7
Monte Carlo simulations of electron beam off-axis profiles
Figure 8
Figure 8
Inplane profile comparison for 10 and 6 cm circular field applicator; blue — simulations, orange — measurements
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pilar A, Gupta M, Ghosh Laskar S, et al. Intraoperative radiotherapy: review of techniques and results. Ecancermedicalscience. 2017;11:750. doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2017.750. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hensley FW. Present state and issues in IORT Physics. Radiat Oncol. 2017;12(1):37. doi: 10.1186/s13014-016-0754-z. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rosi A, Viti V Istituto Superiori di Sanità. Guidelines for quality assurance in intra-operative radiation therapy. Oncología (Barcelona) 2004;27(7) doi: 10.4321/s0378-48352004000700013. - DOI

    1. PN-EN IEC 60601-2-1-2021-12- Medical electrical equipment - Part 2-1: Particular requirements for the basic safety and essential performance of electron accelerators in the range 1 MeV to 50 MeV

    1. Kruszyna-Mochalska M, Bijok M, Pawałowski B, et al. w wsp. Zalecenia Polskiego Towarzystwa Fizyki Medycznej dotyczące kontroli jakości w radioterapii śródoperacyjnej promieniowaniem elektronowym (IOERT) za pomocą mobilnych akceleratorów. Inż i Fiz Med. 2019;8(1):7–25.

LinkOut - more resources