Grant: Project Grant

In brachytherapy (internal radiotherapy), millimeter-sized radioactive implants are used to treat different types of cancers. Usually very effective, brachytherapy requires precise calculations for the positioning of radioactive seeds, prior to their insertion. Unfortunately, the size, shape, and radiation per seed, allow very limited flexibility to the implants, and this is a strong limitation for further improvement of brachytherapy and more personalised approaches in the field. In this research project, an integrated 3D-priting (additive manufacturing) approach will be developed to allow the fabrication of anatomically-relevant radioactive implants that could be used in the most geometrically and precision-challenging brachytherapy application: eye cancer. First, a "radioactive polymer ink" will be developed, and used as the base material for a high-performance polymer 3D printer. Then, "radioactive eye plates" will be printed, as potential substitutes for eye cancer plates currently used in radiation therapy. The geometrical models for these plates will be provided by the imaging scans of real patients. The personalised 3D-printed radioactive implants will be evaluated through a dosimetric study based on a combination of numerical simulation and 3D radiographic dosimetry with hydrogels. Finally, a new "radiosensitization" approach based on coatings of gold nanoparticles at the surface of the implants, will be demonstrated as a possibility to decrease the overall amount of radioactivity necessary per implant. Overall, this new brachytherapy approach could open the door to a whole generation of 3D-printed high efficacy radioactive implants that could be fabricated directly in hospitals, and perfectly adapted to the anatomy of patients. An increased number of brachytherapy treatments could therefore become a reality, in particular in the case where geometrical precision and radioactivity concentration per volume of radioactive implant, are challenging.