Initial clinical experience of surface guided stereotactic radiation therapy with open-face mask immobilization for improving setup accuracy: a retrospective study

PURPOSE: To propose a specific surface guided stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) treatment procedure with open-face mask immobilization and evaluate the initial clinical experience in improving setup accuracy. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The treatment records of 48 SRT patients with head lesions were retrospectively analyzed. For each patient, head immobilization was achieved with a double-shell open-face mask. The anterior shell was left open to expose the forehead, nose, eyes and cheekbones. The exposed facial area was used as region-of-interest for surface tracking by AlignRT (VisionRT Inc, UK). The posterior shell provided a sturdy and personalized headrest. Patient initial setup was guided by 6DoF real-time deltas (RTD) using the reference surface obtained from the skin contour delineated on the planning CT images. The endpoint of initial setup was 1 mm in translational RTD and 1 degree in rotational RTD. CBCT guidance was performed to derive the initial setup errors, and couch shifts for setup correction were applied prior to treatment delivery. CBCT couch shifts, AlignRT RTD values, repositioning rate and setup time were analyzed. RESULTS: The absolute values of median (maximal) CBCT couch shifts were 0.4 (1.3) mm in VRT, 0.1 (2.5) mm in LNG, 0.2 (1.6) mm in LAT, 0.1(1.2) degree in YAW, 0.2 (1.4) degree in PITCH and 0.1(1.3) degree in ROLL. The couch shifts and AlignRT RTD values exhibited highly agreement except in VRT and PITCH (p value < 0.01), of which the differences were as small as negligible. We did not find any case of patient repositioning that was due to out-of-tolerance setup errors, i.e., 3 mm and 2 degree. The surface guided setup time ranged from 52 to 174 s, and the mean and median time was 97.72 s and 94 s respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed surface guided SRT procedure with open-face mask immobilization is a step forward in improving patient comfort and positioning accuracy in the same process. Minimized initial setup errors and repositioning rate had been achieved with reasonably efficiency for routine clinical practice.