Development of patient support devices for execution of clinical radiotherapy for cancer patients: A preliminary report

The present paper illustrates our attempt to design and test the reproducibility of low-cost patient positioning devices prepared in-house in our radiotherapy department. Rigid thermocole boards with angulations, scales and support were designed as breast, pelvis and head positioning devices. Reproducibility and accuracy were tested by serial electronic portal imaging detector imaging. The positioning devices (with or without superimposed moulds) showed variations within 2-3 mm on serial treatment days which were within acceptable limits. It is therefore concluded that low-cost patient positioning devices for head, breast and pelvis (the common sites of treatments in radiotherapy) can be fabricated from available materials in-house. These have been shown to be resulting in accurate immobilization, can be customized for particular techniques and are considerably cheaper than commercially available solutions.