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Checking the beat: validation of a novel deformable 3D-Printed heart model for radiotherapy applications

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Designing a computational model that resembles the cardiac cycle to work in conjunction with a deformable 3D printed heart phantom will enable specific radiotherapy planning for thoracic cancer patients.

Project Overview

Many thoracic cancer patients receiving radiotherapy (RT) are at risk of cardiotoxicity. When RT plans are made, oftentimes only whole-heart dosage is taken into account rather than analyzing each cardiovascular substructure. Having RT plans be unspecific to the localization and delocalization during respiration of the substructures results in unknown and varying dosage to these components. This in turn may result in cardiotoxicity, since some substructures’ dosage threshold varies and may be exceeded. Likewise, pinpointing each substructure through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scans is challenging since the complex muscular movement patterns cause delocalization to a significant degree. Designing a computational model that resembles the cardiac cycle to work in conjunction with a deformable 3-dimensional (3D)-printed heart phantom will enable specific RT planning for thoracic cancer patients and reduce cardiotoxicity episodes experienced due to whole-heart dosage. The heart phantom will be printed within the semester, with including the computational model and motor attachment.

Team Picture

Left-to-right: Cameron Owens, Grace Kreissler, Margo Amatuzio, Seyoung Park
Left-to-right: Cameron Owens, Grace Kreissler, Margo Amatuzio, Seyoung Park

Contact Information

Team Members

  • Grace Kreissler - Team Leader
  • Margo Amatuzio - Communicator
  • Seyoung Park - BSAC & BWIG
  • Cameron Owens - BPAG
  • Alankrit Shatadal

Advisor and Client

  • Prof. Wan-Ju Li - Advisor
  • Dr. Melissa Kinney - Advisor
  • Dr. Carri Glide-Hurst - Client
  • Mr. Ken Gregg - Alternate Contact

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