Abstract
Repeatable patient positioning is key to minimising the burden on planning radiotherapy treatment. There are very few materials commercially available which are suitable for use in all common imaging and treatment modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-Ray computed tomography (CT) and radiotherapy. In this article, we present several such materials based on woven natural fibres embedded in a range of different resin materials which are suitable for such applications. By investigating a range of resins and natural fibre materials in combination and evaluating their performance in terms of MRI and X-Ray imaging, we show that a woven cotton material impregnated with a two-part epoxy resin provides a 15% improvement in passage of X-Rays and has no impact on the MRI signal (unlike the 40% MRI signal attenuation from carbon fibre), whilst also retaining a flexural modulus up to 71% of that of carbon fibre. These results demonstrate that natural fibre composites produced using such materials provide desirable properties for use in patient support and positioning devices for multi-modal imaging, without the need to significantly compromise on the strength of the material.
Highlights
As cancer treatments are becoming increasingly advanced, there is a growing demand for treatment plans to be based upon images from more than one imaging modality [1,2]
Unlike other studies into natural fibre composites, we focus on the need to reduce x-ray attenuation and maintain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compatibility so we expect to require some compromise on mechanical metrics
It can be seen that all natural fibre composite samples fall within this range, demonstrating the minimal effect which it has on the Radio Frequency (RF) reaching the fluid
Summary
As cancer treatments are becoming increasingly advanced, there is a growing demand for treatment plans to be based upon images from more than one imaging modality [1,2]. The repeatable positioning of patients in the different modalities has required that flat patient supports, referred to in the literature as table tops, be made available for the range of different manufacturers’ machines These supports are optimised for the individual modalities, meaning that the same patient support cannot be moved between machines which would allow for optimum positioning. In a recent article [5] we presented a composite comprising wood pulp-derived fibres embedded in polyester resin and bonded to expanded polystyrene cores We compared these to the standards of glass fibre reinforced honeycomb cored composite (GFC) and carbon fibre reinforced composite (CFC). It gave similar performance to the CFC with regard to megavoltage imaging homogeneity and outperformed the GFC by 56%
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