Modeling AeroForm tissue expander for postmastectomy radiation therapy.

The AeroForm chest wall tissue expander (TE) is a silicon shell containing a metallic CO reservoir, placed surgically after mastectomy. The patient uses a remote control to release compressed CO from the reservoir to inflate the expander. AeroForm poses challenges in a radiation therapy setting: The high density of the metallic reservoir causes imaging artifacts on the planning CT, which encumber structure definition and cause misrepresentation of density information, in turn affecting dose calculation.