Prostate Phantoms
Biomedical CAD and 3D Printing Research - Summer 2014, June 2015 - Present
Over the summer of 2014, I worked on a team of 5 students under Professor Chris Lee with doctors from Boston University Medical Center to make fake, plastic prostates. These prostate phantoms were used to test radiation therapy treatment plans for prostate cancer. This was continued research from another group the previous year.
My main focus on this project was making an imaging model for the doctors to put through the radiation treatment. My model needed to fit in a canister, and the outlines of the different parts of the prostate needed to be visible on a CT scan. We worked directly with the doctors and got significant experience with user-collaborative design.
My contributions to the project were helping to improve and better define the process used to turn CT scans into 3D-printable models, and developing the method to integrate the phantom with the canister insert.
Beginning in June 2015, I worked with two other students to improve the canister and insert design.
Due to poor planning last year, the SolidWorks document for the canister and the testing inserts was difficult to modify and understand. One of my main contributions to the project was redesigning the workflow of the canister and inserts. The design should be much more understandable and modifiable. Part of the redesign was improving waterproofing of the canister, and increasing strength of the canister.
We improved the production method of the imaging insert (shown above). The image above is the old imaging insert, 3D printed due to the complicated geometry. This method led to frequent failures, due to the long print time and complicated geometry. It would print entirely only about 1 in 3 times.
Our new method involves printing each part separately and assembling it at the end. This decreased the total print length in printer-hours, in part due to decreased need for support material. Additionally, the production of the insert could be spread among several printers, decreasing the total production time. Failed prints lose us only 1 hour, rather than 9 or 12, and an unintended benefit to the new production method was greater visibility of the organs, meaning that the doctors could be more accurate in their testing.