Treatment table withintegrated 6 DoF

SUB DEGREE CORRECTION
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Imaging protocols are used for stereotactic radiotherapy to improve the quality of treatment. These imaging protocols ensure that once the image distortions have been automatically corrected, the images can be immediately processed in the treatment planning system. Due to its great accuracy, stereotactic radiotherapy also enables the treatment of complex brain tumors with a Linac linear accelerator. The RPS base helps to position the patient as accurately as possible under the Linac linear accelerator and expands the range of possible irradiation angles thanks to its 6DoF mobility. Patients can be positioned and fixed without compromise so that stereotactic radiotherapy captures tumor tissue without affecting critical structures. Without changing the treatment plan, the RPS base allows corrections to be implemented immediately prior to radiotherapy.

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SYSTEMS IMPROVE THE ACCURACY
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Radiotherapy with a Linac machine is involved in about 50 percent of permanent tumor cures. New radiotherapy treatments have evolved more rapidly in recent decades than in almost any other medical discipline. Radiotherapy side effects continue to be reduced and treatment is becoming more and more tolerable for patients. Radiotherapy with a Linac machine allows tumors to be treated with pinpoint accuracy. New radiotherapy treatments, such as image-guided techniques, continue to improve treatment options. Experts see the future of radiotherapy as involving the expansion of highly effective radiotherapy with hydrogen ions or carbon ions. In particular, tumors that were previously difficult to manage with radiotherapy can be reached with it. In the future, the penumbra in radiotherapy will also be further reduced so that the radiation acuity is improved. Innovative patient couches like the RPS base help radiation medicine move patients closer to the gantry and reduce the penumbra.

The RPS base is the patient couch for radiotherapy with the greatest flexibility. As a completely integrated system, RPS base can be individually adapted to all Linac machines. Depending on the choice of carbon plate, the RPS base interfaces with all common add-ons for radiotherapy, such as a thermoplastic shell for radiotherapy. The choice of thermoplastic shell for radiotherapy has a great influence on the quality of fixation of the patient and is especially important for the treatment of brain tumors in order to minimize stereotactic radiotherapy side effects. Minimal changes in the patient’s position can lead to undesirable side effects during stereotactic radiotherapy. Reliable fixation and the precise correction options provided by the RPS base create additional treatment safety. Do not compromise on 6D patient couches and choose the RPS base from the outset.

4D radiotherapy is also called body stereotaxy because this procedure can safely treat moving tumors. Without the advances made by 4DMI (4D Medical Imaging), it would not have been possible to precisely irradiate tumors in the lung area just a few years ago, because these sometimes change their position by several centimeters due to respiratory movements, both during diagnosis and during irradiation. Only by combining image guidance systems such as 4D diagnostic scans and radiotherapy imaging can quality be improved. The latest image guidance systems such as 4D CT scans now allow contouring of the treatment area as a function of the respiratory phase. In combination with radiotherapy imaging, this position can be checked on the linear accelerator prior to treatment and deviations detected during radiotherapy imaging can be corrected immediately with our RPS base. Subsequently, by gating in 4D radiotherapy, radiation is administered only in the time periods in which the respiratory phase is the same. Image-guided 4D radiotherapy achieves high reproducibility even with repeated irradiation.

Head and neck radiotherapy is usually a part of an overall therapy approach which may consist of surgery, chemotherapy, and head and neck radiotherapy. For radiotherapy in the brain, it is crucial to spare the surrounding tissue as much as possible. Immobilization for radiotherapy is therefore particularly important. The RPS base offers all the features needed to combine patient comfort with immobilization for radiotherapy: low entry height, compatibility with common indexing systems, and large 6D adjustment ranges to compensate for deviations in immobilization. For radiotherapy in the brain, thermoplastic face masks are usually used which are attached to the patient couch and stabilize the patient’s head as effectively as possible during radiation. The RPS base can support most indexing systems and is therefore compatible with all thermoplastic masks. Gkteso solutions for radiotherapy include integrated complete systems as well as 6DoF couch attachments with numerous correction options or simple add-ons for the correction of angular errors

Preparation for radiotherapy is complex because the position and contours of the tumor must be determined precisely during planning. Radiotherapy for brain tumors must be particularly precise, because there are always important regions within the head in the immediate vicinity of the tumor. Appropriate tools are used to best implement this planning data in radiotherapy. Immobilization aids for radiotherapy are available for all areas of the body. For brain tumor radiotherapy, thermoplastic face masks are usually used, which are custom-molded for each patient. By using the RPS base, the minimal positioning errors that occur during the preparation of radiotherapy can be readjusted. Depending on the radiotherapy immobilization aid used, i.e. depending on the indexing system, different carbon boards of the RPS base are available.