Multi-MATE: High-Throughput Automated Small Animal Radiation Platform
Presentations
WE-C1000-IePD-F5-1 (Wednesday, 7/13/2022) 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM [Eastern Time (GMT-4)]
Exhibit Hall | Forum 5
Purpose: Small animal irradiators are essential to study the radiation response of new interventions before or parallel to human therapy. New intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for small animals is developed to better mimic human treatments. However, sophisticated technics have compromised delivery efficiency and made most animal experiments that require statistical power impractical. We propose a high throughput automated imaging and treatment platform (Multi-MATE) to streamline image-guided small animal IMRT.
Methods: Multi-MATE consists of six parallel channels, each with a transfer rail, a 3D printed immobilization pod (Hewlett-Packard MJF), and electromagnets for movement control. A linear stage is computer-controlled via an Arduino interface. Multi-MATE has a 3D printed base (Formlabs SLA) that matches with the treatment couch of a PXI SmART CT-guided small animal irradiator. The mouse immobilization pods are transferred along the rails between the parking position away from the radiation field and the imaging/therapy position near the center of the field. In the proposed workflow, all six mice are transferred to the imaging/therapy position for initial CBCT, which is used for IMRT planning with a sparse-orthogonal collimator. Individual mice are automatically segmented, and corresponding plans are created. The six mice are then sequentially transferred to the imaging/therapy position for automated IMRT delivery. In this study, the positioning accuracy, reproducibility, and robustness of Multi-MATE are quantified using CBCT. The automated pod positioning accuracy was compared with manual positioning accuracy using ten repetitions.
Results: Multi-MATE reduces the image acquisition time by 83.33% while affording further acceleration with parallel image segmentation and treatment plan creation. The pod position accuracy was improved to 0.5±0.1mm using Multi-MATE from 2.8±1.1mm using manual positioning.
Conclusion: The system accelerates the image acquisition time by a minimum of 6X and achieves a positioning accuracy of 0.5mm. Therefore, Multi-MATE removes a significant barrier to implementing high precision preclinical radiation research.
Keywords
Treatment Techniques, CAD, Immobilization
Taxonomy
TH- Small Animal RT: Development (new technology and techniques)
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