A study of the effect on accuracy of the introduction of a bellyboard as an immobilisation device to the radical radiotherapy treatment of prostate cancer patients

Abstract

Ensuring reproducibility in any radiotherapy technique is vital to ensure that a geometric miss does not occur. Patient position and comfort play a major part in the reproducibility of setups. Purpose: To study the effect on accuracy of the introduction of a bellyboard to the existing prone technique used for radical radiotherapy treatment of prostate cancer. Materials and Methods: Thirty patients were treated using the bellyboard in the standard method. Portal images were compared with those of a control group of patients who had treatment with no rigid immobilisation. Patients in both groups were males with prostate cancer, who underwent radical radiotherapy treatment. Images were analysed using anatomy matching, and deviations from the isocentre were noted. Results: Statistical analysis of the results showed no statistical significance between the groups, though within the control group there were more deviations over 0.5 cm from the isocentre position than in the bellyboard group. Conclusions: Introduction of the bellyboard was seen to be equivalent to the use of the control technique. When the deviations from isocentre position were evaluated for each group, the control group had more deviations over 0.5 cm than the bellyboard group. 2011 Cambridge University Press.