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Development of a deformable lung phantom with 3D-printed flexible airways
Dong-Seok Shin1,2, Seong-Hee Kang3, Kyeong-Hyeon Kim1,2
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Biomedicine and Health Sciences, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, 06591, Republic of Korea.
Medical Physics
|December 22, 2019
Summary
This study developed a reproducible, deformable lung phantom with 3D-printed airways for advanced imaging and radiotherapy. The phantom demonstrated consistent density, motion, and airway positioning, offering an advantage over existing models.
Area of Science:
- Medical imaging and radiotherapy
- Biomedical engineering
- Phantom development
Background:
- Deformable lung phantoms are crucial for investigating 4D imaging and radiotherapy techniques.
- Existing phantoms often lack realistic pulmonary airways, limiting their utility.
- A need exists for reproducible, deformable lung phantoms that incorporate airway structures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a reproducible, deformable lung phantom that accurately mimics human pulmonary airways.
- To create a phantom with 3D-printed airways for enhanced realism in imaging and radiotherapy research.
Main Methods:
- Constructed a phantom using 3D-printed flexible airways and polyurethane foam infused with contrast agents.
- Simulated airways via CT image segmentation, CAD modeling, and 3D printing with a rubber-like material.
- Quantified reproducibility of density, motion/deformation, and airway position using repeated CT scans over two months.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated reproducible lung density with mean differences of -1.3 HU (compressed) and 0.4 HU (decompressed) at 8 weeks.
- Observed consistent displacement vector fields for motion/deformation, with mean differences of 0.5 mm for lung and 0.3 mm for airways.
- Showcased reproducible airway positioning with mean displacements of 0.6 mm in both compressed and decompressed states.
Conclusions:
- Successfully developed a deformable lung phantom with 3D-printed airways based on human lung CT data.
- The phantom exhibits reproducible density, motion/deformation, and airway position.
- Utilizes widely available materials and technology, offering advantages over other deformable phantom designs.
