Bladder cancer can be categorized in non-muscle-invasive and muscle-invasive. These different types of bladder cancer have to be treated in different ways. Therefore, it is important to develop diagnostic techniques to be able to classify the bladder cancer to determine the most suitable treatment plan for patients with a bladder tumour.
In the Next-gen in-vivo project robotic systems and software tools are developed for scanning and making a 3D reconstruction of bladder phantoms. The robot that is developed as part of the Next-gen in-vivo project is supposed to be able to look into the bladder of a patient that is diagnosed with bladder cancer. The images made by a miniature camera attached to the robot can be used to create a 3D reconstruction of the bladder. Also, OCT (optical coherence tomography) sensing technology will be used to make the reconstruction, whereafter localisation and categorization of the bladder tumour can be done. Ideally, the bladder phantom created during this BSc assignment can be used to do experiments involving this robot.
Currently, simplistic cardboard phantoms are being used. It would be useful to create more realistic phantoms which better represent the human bladder in specific aspects such as texture, deformability, anatomy, OCT sensing features etc. So the central topic of this BSc assignment is to develop and evaluate such a phantom.
At RaM there is a broad experience in creating phantoms for medical research projects using e.g. silicone rubber, PVC plastisol, gelatin etc. which could be shaped using a set of 3D printed moulds. Other research labs may use different materials and techniques, so the first step would be to investigate and categorize these techniques in a small literature study and list the requirements, after which decisions about the design and production of the actual phantom will be made. To (quantitatively) evaluate the created phantom there are various measurement instruments available, both at RaM and in other labs. Important evaluation methods involve the miniature camera and OCT, since these are the techniques that are used to make the 3D reconstruction with the help of the robot that is being developed.