ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Biofabrication
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1544105
Comparison of custom-designed oral stents in radiotherapy for head and neck malignancies
Provisionally accepted
- 1Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical College, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China
- 2Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
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Purpose: To compare the 3d-printed oral stents (3D-OS) and personalised hand-made stents in dentistry (DentStent) for head and neck malignancies. Methods: Twelve patients with head and neck malignant tumours in the Cancer Centre of Shanxi Bethune Hospital from August 1, 2023 to September 31, 2024 were admitted to the study. After obtaining informed consent from the patients, 3D-OS and DentStent were designed for each patient, respectively, and the patients wore them to produce two groups of radiotherapy plans. The aim was to compare the homogeneity index (HI) and conformity index (CI) of the target areas, as well as the dose differences to the organs at risk (OAR) between the two plans. Additionally, the satisfaction of the patients with the stents after use was assessed. Results: The difference in HI, CI and OAR dose to the target area between the two groups was slight, but 3D-OS took less time (~4h) to fabricate and resulted in higher resolution and patient satisfaction.The proposed 3D-OS could obtain good HI and CI in radiotherapy for head and neck malignancies, and is a new method for rapid and satisfactory personalised oral stent.
Keywords: Head and neck malignancies, Oral stents, 3D printing, Radiation dose, Radiotherapy
Received: 12 Dec 2024; Accepted: 29 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Pang, Li, Shi, Xu, Lu and Song. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ying Lu, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
Jianbo Song, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
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