title: Bismuth Infusion of ABS Enables Additive Manufacturing of Complex Radiological Phantoms and Shielding Equipment.
abstract: Radiopacity is a critical property of materials that are used for a range of radiological applications, including the development of phantom devices that emulate the radiodensity of native tissues and the production of protective equipment for personnel handling radioactive materials. Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a fabrication platform that is well suited to creating complex anatomical replicas or custom labware to accomplish these radiological purposes. We created and tested multiple ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) filaments infused with varied concentrations of bismuth (1.2-2.7 g/cm³), a radiopaque metal that is compatible with plastic infusion, to address the poor gamma radiation attenuation of many mainstream 3D printing materials. X-ray computed tomography (CT) experiments of these filaments indicated that a density of 1.2 g/cm³ of bismuth-infused ABS emulates bone radiopacity during X-ray CT imaging on preclinical and clinical scanners. ABS-bismuth filaments along with ABS were 3D printed to create an embedded human nasocranial anatomical phantom that mimicked radiological properties of native bone and soft tissue. Increasing the bismuth content in the filaments to 2.7 g/cm³ created a stable material that could attenuate 50% of99mTechnetium gamma emission when printed with a 2.0 mm wall thickness. A shielded test tube rack was printed to attenuate source radiation as a protective measure for lab personnel. We demonstrated the utility of novel filaments to serve multiple radiological purposes, including the creation of anthropomorphic phantoms and safety labware, by tuning the level of radiation attenuation through material customization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 100 Galvin Life Science Center, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. jceh@nd.edu.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ceh
authors.affiliation: Turner MedTech Inc., 1119 South 1680 West, Orem, UT 84058, USA. tyoud@turnerinnovation.com.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Youd
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 100 Galvin Life Science Center, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. Zachary.Mastrovich.2@nd.edu.
authors.forename: Zach
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Mastrovich
authors.affiliation: Turner MedTech Inc., 1119 South 1680 West, Orem, UT 84058, USA. cpeterson@turnerinnovation.com.
authors.forename: Cody
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 100 Galvin Life Science Center, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. skhan6@nd.edu.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Notre Dame Integrated Imaging Facility, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. tsasser@nd.edu.|Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, 236 Nieuwland Science Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. tsasser@nd.edu.
authors.forename: Todd A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Sasser
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 100 Galvin Life Science Center, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. isander@alumni.nd.edu.
authors.forename: Ian M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Sander
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 100 Galvin Life Science Center, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. jdoney@nd.edu.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Doney
authors.affiliation: Turner MedTech Inc., 1119 South 1680 West, Orem, UT 84058, USA. cturner@turnerinnovation.com.
authors.forename: Clark
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 100 Galvin Life Science Center, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. wleevy@nd.edu.|Notre Dame Integrated Imaging Facility, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. wleevy@nd.edu.|Harper Cancer Research Institute, University of Notre Dame, 1234 N Notre Dame Avenue, South Bend, IN 46617, USA. wleevy@nd.edu.
authors.forename: W Matthew
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Leevy
mesh_terms: D001729:Bismuth; D006801:Humans; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D066330:Printing, Three-Dimensional; D011859:Radiography; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D001729:Bismuth
keywords: 3D printing; CT scans; additive manufacturing; imaging phantoms; medical imaging; multi-material; radiopacity