Multi-cellular Phantom for Simulating Body and Organ Motion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current phantoms for radiation oncology fail to accurately simulate the dynamic motion of both the surface of the human body and internal organs, leading to inadequate reproduction of absorbed dose at tumor locations during X-ray therapy, especially due to unidirectional motion modeling and inability to express internal organ movements.
Innovation Solution
A multi-cellular phantom with elastic surface cells that expand and contract to simulate body and internal organ motions, using a control system with compressed air to synchronize surface and internal organ movements, allowing precise reproduction of tumor motion for accurate X-ray treatment planning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single-chamber phantom is used to simulate the human body, then the structure is simple, but it cannot simulate internal organ motions
Solution Approach 1:
The phantom is divided into multiple independent chambers (body chamber, internal organ chambers) that can move separately. Each chamber can be filled with fluid to simulate specific organ motions while maintaining overall body structure, enabling both simplicity and complex motion simulation capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The internal organ chambers are nested within the body chamber structure. The phantom consists of a outer body chamber containing inner organ chambers, allowing the inner organs to move independently while being contained within the overall body framework, thus achieving multi-level motion simulation.
2Device complexity
If a phantom models body motions unidirectionally, then the structure remains simple, but it cannot express internal motions
Solution Approach 1:
The phantom transitions from static or unidirectional motion modeling to dynamic multi-directional motion simulation. By filling chambers with fluid and applying pressure from multiple directions, the phantom can naturally express complex internal organ motions in three-dimensional space, improving motion representation accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
Fluid is introduced into the phantom chambers to enable realistic motion simulation. The fluid transmits pressure uniformly throughout the chamber, allowing controlled expansion and contraction that accurately represents biological organ motions, overcoming the limitations of rigid unidirectional modeling.
3Ease of operation
If previous phantoms are used for treatment plan inspection, then the process is simple, but reproducibility of absorbed dose at tumor location is unsatisfactory
Solution Approach 1:
The phantom material properties are optimized to match human tissue characteristics, particularly electron density and attenuation coefficients. By adjusting material composition and density parameters, the phantom achieves accurate reproduction of X-ray attenuation and absorbed dose distribution, improving treatment plan inspection precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The phantom employs composite materials that combine different densities and radiological properties to replicate various human tissues. The body chamber and internal organ chambers use materials with differentiated attenuation characteristics, enabling accurate simulation of dose distribution throughout the phantom structure.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables reliable reproduction of human motion for 4D-CT imaging and X-ray therapy, improving the accuracy of X-ray treatment planning by simulating both surface and internal organ motions, thereby minimizing irradiation of normal cells and optimizing tumor targeting.
Implementation Method 1
Each of the body cell, the internal organ part cell and the internal organ cells is composed of a material which has elasticity at the surface and is able to expand and contract
Implementation Method 2
When the fluid flows into the cell the expansion occurs, whereas when the fluid flows out from the cell the contraction occurs
Data Source
AI summary
A phantom for simulating motions of both the body surface and the internal organs simultaneously, having a structure comprising of a body cell 12 and an internal organ part cell 2. The body cell 12 simulates a body. The internal organ part cell 2 is installed inside a body cell 12 and contains internal organ cells 11a and 11b which simulate internal organs like lung and others. Each of the body cell 12, the internal organ part cell 2 and the internal organ cells 11a and 11b has elastic surface and is able to expand like a balloon. Each cell is provided with a protrusion 170 for connecting a tube 40 to pass fluid.