Dec 17, 2014 | By Alec
It's no secret that 3D printing technology is currently innovation the medical world. While most of the revolutionary bio printing projects are still a few years away from commercial implementation, the prospects look good. For now, practical medical 3D printing is largely focussing on ground-breaking prostheses and on 3D printed replicas of organs and other tissue to help doctors get to grips with rare and complicated problems.
In that latter category, a new and exciting breakthrough has just been made. For British scientists from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, England, have developed a method for 3D printing personalized replica models of tumors and organs. These 3D printed 'phantom' tumors and organ will allow doctors to target cancerous tumors more precisely and directly, enabling them to combat them more effectively.
These phantom tumors and organs are based on patients' CT scans taken during treatment, and aren't just a bulging and ugly 3D printed object. Instead, these are highly accurate replicas of, for instance, the tumor, complete with its innards, veins and everything that a cancerous tumor is made of. They have been realized using a Stratasys 3D printer.
The idea is that these plastic replicas can be filled with liquids that precisely mimic flow inside the actual tumor, allowing doctors to understand exactly how so-called radiopharmaceuticals will act once they reach the tumor. Radiopharmaceuticals are specific drugs filled with radioactive material that can kill cancer cells. These can be injected into a vein, taken orally or even inserted surgically in a body cavity. They're known to be especially effective in combating thyroid cancer, cancers of nerves cells in children and certain bone tumors, and a new version specifically aimed at prostate cancer has recently been launched by German manufacturer Bayer.
While effective as anti-cancer drugs, radiopharmaceuticals are very dangerous for a patient's health too; the challenge with them has always been finding the right dose to kill the cancer cells, without taking too many surrounding cells with it. Collateral damage can, after all, be a serious health hazard to someone already struggling with cancer.
As Glenn Flux, head of radioisotope physics department at the Institute of Cancer Research explained, these 3D printed phantom organs and tumors will help doctors to fine-tune dosages in a laboratory, rather than through a trial-and-error route. 'We're really excited by this technology and the potential it has for personalising cancer treatment with highly targeted radiation.'
Initial tests at The Institute of Cancer Research and at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, indicated that the models could help in accurately calculating the necessary doses. Dr Jonathan Gear, Clinical Scientist at The Institute of Cancer Research, is equally hopeful: 'The big challenge we faced was to produce a model that was both anatomically accurate and allowed us to monitor the dose of radiation it received. We found that the printed replicas could give us information we couldn't get from 2D scans – you will always get more information from a 3D model than a flat image.'
The research team have published a paper on the subject in the journal Medical Physics a few months ago, in which they've detailed research showing that their phantom models can actually perfectly replicate the shape of a patient's tumor and the surrounding area.
While larger (practical) studies will still need to be done, Flux and Gear believe these 3D printed tumors and organs could become a regular sight in cancer departments and institutes in the near future. As Gear remarked, 'there's no reason why in the future, treatment planning can't incorporate 3D printing technology to help improve radiation dosing for patients.'
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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