A novel anthropomorphic phantom composed of tissue-equivalent materials for use in experimental radiotherapy: design, dosimetry and biological pilot study

The production of anthropomorphic phantoms generated from tissue-equivalent materials is challenging but offers an excellent copy of the typical environment encountered in typical patients. High-quality dosimetry measurements and the correlation of the measured dose with the biological effects elicited by it are a prerequisite in preparation of clinical trials with novel radiotherapy approaches. We designed and produced a partial upper arm phantom from tissue-equivalent materials for use in experimental high-dose-rate radiotherapy. The phantom was compared to original patient data using density values and Hounsfield units obtained from CT scans. Dose simulations were conducted for broad-beam irradiation and microbeam radiotherapy (MRT) and compared to values measured in a synchrotron radiation experiment. Finally, we validated the phantom in a pilot experiment with human primary melanoma cells. © 2023 The Authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence.

Keywords

Radiotherapy, Phantoms, Melanomas, Irradiation, Synchrotrons, Correlations, Photon computed tomography, Dosimetry, Therapy, Patients, Dose limits

Citation

Breslin, T., Paino, J., Wegner, M., Engels, E., Fiedler, S., Forrester, H., Rennau, H., Bustillo, J., Cameron, M., Häusermann, D., Hall, C., Krause, D., Hildebrandt, G., Lerch, M., & Schültke, E. (2023). A novel anthropomorphic phantom composed of tissue-equivalent materials for use in experimental radiotherapy: design, dosimetry and biological pilot study. Biomimetics, 8(2), 230. doi:10.3390/biomimetics8020230

URI

https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics8020230
https://apo.ansto.gov.au/handle/10238/16024

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