The cancer imaging project brings together a consortium of 20 companies, including among them ITL Group, KCL, Philips, and Siemens, to combine engineering developments with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in order to make Magnetic Resonance Force (MRF) Imaging for new cancer diagnostics applications, which could potentially give doctors a non-invasive way to both diagnose and measure cancerous tumors. ITL Group joined as a medical device design, development and manufacturing partner in 2015; once early project elements were completed this year, it became an active consortium participant. The consortium has been tasked with producing three prototypes: one each for brain, breast, and liver cancer patients.
ITL has been using a 3D printer for a trial period during this project, and it’s not the first time we’ve seen 3D printing used to make an impact in MRI research and development, from 3D printed MRIs for patient education, to a 3D printed gas delivery system for pulmonary MRI research. The technology works well with this particular project: since the transducer will be put to work in an MRI scanner, it’s imperative that all of its components are plastic. 3D printing additionally allows for a fast turnaround, offering another benefit to progress in development.
“This has been a very creative project for us and we’ve received great feedback from King’s on our process – they’ve been impressed by the advanced we have made so far, especially considering the short timeframe,” said ITL Mechanical Engineer Dan Hollands, the Head Engineer and Project Manager on this transducer project. “We’ve had a lot of freedom to develop the product and push the boundaries with experimentation – being both R&D and manufacturer means we can be more radical with design and test in-house before implementing changes. 3D printing has played a big part in the development – we’ve been able to design and print parts, then assess, test and redevelop all in a matter of weeks.”
“Although the MRI technology is well established, this application is ground-breaking and opens up a host of possibilities for diagnostics. ITL is honoured to be part of this scheme and contribute to a potentially life-saving project.”
ITL has worked on a great deal of commercial projects over the past 40 years, and partnered with many of the top universities in the UK. But the grant from Horizon 2020 allows Hollands and the rest of the team the time and resources to experiment more freely, in order to really “push the design to its limits.”
“Teamwork and collaboration is the key to achieving wonderful things – this fact may not be anything new but working on this fantastic project; developing equipment to measure the forces in and around cancer cells has helped us to predict outcomes, choose personalised therapies and even slow the spread of tumours,” said KCL’s Stefan Hoelzl. “Together with the ITL Group we’ve had the opportunity to improve on the early transducer prototype; which is now a more efficient instrument and provides faster results than anyone initially expected.”
“ITL understand and appreciate the heart and soul that has gone into this project. They ensured everything was dealt with perfectly; any improvements, calculations, planning, testing, discussions etc. – They were there every step of the way, respect and well done!”
Discuss in the Cancer Imaging forum at 3DPB.com.
[Source: ITL Group]