A Customized Bolus Produced Using a 3-Dimensional Printer for Radiotherapy

OBJECTIVE: Boluses are used in high-energy radiotherapy in order to overcome the skin sparing effect. In practice though, commonly used flat boluses fail to make a perfect contact with the irregular surface of the patient’s skin, resulting in air gaps. Hence, we fabricated a customized bolus using a 3-dimensional (3D) printer and evaluated its feasibility for radiotherapy. METHODS: We designed two kinds of bolus for production on a 3D printer, one of which was the 3D printed flat bolus for the Blue water phantom and the other was a 3D printed customized bolus for the RANDO phantom. The 3D printed flat bolus was fabricated to verify its physical quality. The resulting 3D printed flat bolus was evaluated by assessing dosimetric parameters such as D(1.5 cm), D(5 cm), and D(10 cm). The 3D printed customized bolus was then fabricated, and its quality and clinical feasibility were evaluated by visual inspection and by assessing dosimetric parameters such as D(max), D(min), D(mean), D(90%), and V(90%). RESULTS: The dosimetric parameters of the resulting 3D printed flat bolus showed that it was a useful dose escalating material, equivalent to a commercially available flat bolus. Analysis of the dosimetric parameters of the 3D printed customized bolus demonstrated that it is provided good dose escalation and good contact with the irregular surface of the RANDO phantom. CONCLUSIONS: A customized bolus produced using a 3D printer could potentially replace commercially available flat boluses.