Scientists develop Novel & Cheap 3D Robotic Motion Phantom

Context

A group of Indian scientists has developed a novel and cheap 3D robotic motion phantom which can reproduce the lung motion of a human during breathing.

About the Novel 3D Robotic Motion Phantom

• The programmable robotic motion is the platform for quality assurance of respiratory motion management techniques in radiation therapy.  
• It can also be helpful to check if the radiation is being correctly focused on a moving target.
• The equipment is aligned with the ‘Make in India’ Initiative.
• It is an indigenously built platform and is cost-effective.

How does it work?

• The phantom is placed inside a CT scanner on the bed in place of the human, and it emulates human lung motion as it is irradiated during therapy.
• As the phantom emulates the lung movement, a moving window is used to focus the radiation from the radiation machine on the moving tumor.
• Detectors that are placed in the phantom help to detect whether the radiation is localized on the tumor.
• During irradiation, high-quality images of advanced 4D radiation therapy treatments are obtained with minimum exposure of the patients and workers. 
• The major part of the phantom is a dynamic platform that can mimic 3D tumor motion by using three independent stepper-motor systems.

Why the equipment was being developed?

• Breathing motion causesa hurdle for delivering focused radiation dose to the cancer tumor, which is attached to the upper abdomen and thoracic regions.
• The motion during breathing exposes an area that is larger than the tumor to radiation during cancer treatment.
• Focused radiation could be customized by simulating the lung movement of the patient and then orienting the delivery of the radiation so that it could be effective with minimal dosage.
• Before this is done on a human, the effectiveness of such a treatment is needed to be checked on a robotic phantom.