Anthropomorphic Phantoms for Confirmation of Linear Accelerator-Based Small Animal Irradiation.

Julian R Perks,Jian Jian Li,Arta M Monjazeb,Steven Lucero

doi:10.7759/cureus.254

Abstract

Three dimensional (3D) scanning and printing technology is utilized to create phantom models of mice in order to assess the accuracy of ionizing radiation dosing from a clinical, human-based linear accelerator. Phantoms are designed to simulate a range of research questions, including irradiation of lung tumors and primary subcutaneous or orthotopic tumors for immunotherapy experimentation. The phantoms are used to measure the accuracy of dose delivery and then refine it to within 1% of the prescribed dose.

Highlights

The small animal model is one of the cornerstones of biological research, often being used as a precursor to human Phase 0 and Phase I trials [1]
The purpose of this paper is to document the support of radiobiological small animal research by a modern radiation oncology facility
Ethics Statement: All mouse studies described in this paper have been approved by the University of California, Davis Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC)

Summary

Introduction

The small animal model is one of the cornerstones of biological research, often being used as a precursor to human Phase 0 and Phase I trials [1]. In the field of radiation oncology, the research design may well involve irradiation of the small animal with either lethal or sub-lethal doses. In the case of the mouse model, the use of fields smaller than the whole body requires specialized dosimetric techniques and innovative design to ensure the radiation dose is delivered with sufficient accuracy to provide reliable and trustworthy experimentation. The purpose of this paper is to document the support of radiobiological small animal research by a modern radiation oncology facility. Millimeter field size, imaging, and treatment of mice is certainly a significant step in radiobiological research; as the experiments documented below show, there are major areas of research which require field sizes larger than those of precision devices

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