Individualized 3D-Printed Tissue Retraction Devices for Head and Neck Radiotherapy

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Device Technology
• Radiotherapy Oncology

Background:

• Radiotherapy for head and neck cancers can lead to oral complications like mucositis.
• Current tissue retraction devices (TRDs) are costly, time-consuming to produce, or lack versatility.
• 3D-printed, tooth-borne TRDs present a potential improvement for clinical application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a novel method for manufacturing 3D-printed, tooth-borne TRDs.
• To analyze the clinical application and feasibility of these custom TRDs.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of TRDs in protecting healthy oral tissues during radiotherapy.

Main Methods:

• Virtually designed and 3D-printed TRDs enabling tongue displacement and stabilization.
• Retrospective analysis of 10 patients undergoing head and neck radiotherapy with individually adapted TRDs.
• Assessment of technical feasibility, patient adherence, tissue spacing via volumetric analysis, and maxillomandibular relation reproducibility using optical scanning.

Main Results:

• 3D-printing simplified TRD manufacture, reducing patient treatment time to under 30 minutes.
• All patients tolerated the TRDs well throughout radiotherapy without technical complications.
• Effective spacing of healthy tissues, like the tongue, was achieved with high reproducibility of maxillomandibular relation (mean RMSD of 98.1 µm ± 29.4 µm).

Conclusions:

• The presented method enables resource-efficient fabrication of individualized, tooth-borne TRDs.
• High reproducibility of maxillomandibular relation was achieved.
• Initial clinical experiences indicate significant potential for these TRDs in head and neck radiotherapy.