More people are being diagnosed with skin cancer worldwide. High-Dose-Rate (HDR) brachytherapy provides a highly effective radiotherapeutic approach for skin cancer due to its capacity for very localized and accurately controlled radiation dose delivery. For an even more effective treatment, patient specific applicators are made in the hospital. 
These custom applicators offer a better anatomical fit to the skin than the readily available applicators and can be designed to give a patient specific treatment. Current solutions make use of 3D printing but often still involve complex, time-intensive fabrication workflows that lack flexibility and maintain uncertainties in dose delivery.

This project addresses these limitations by developing and validating a novel 3D printing fabrication method for these custom skin applicators in combination with a re-designed workflow to offer one solution for all types of non-melanoma skin cancer. It approaches the challenges and opportunities from a user-centered product design perspective, instead of the common clinical viewpoint.

The findings demonstrate three critical advantages of this new system: a faster and more flexible workflow and an applicator with better dose distribution. The new applicator design and workflow provide a low-effort fabrication pipeline, drastically reducing the time it takes to make a custom skin applicator. Going from a multiple day process to a +/- 1,5 hour process that can be done while the patient is waiting. 
The nurse and physician can take advantage of a more automatized workflow without losing their necessary control. The low threshold of the fabrication gives more flexibility in the workflow and adaptations or corrections are easier made.

This project validates a step toward a new generation of personalized HDR brachytherapy applicators for skin cancer. Paving the way for improved clinical efficiency and treatment quality.