Development of Adjustable Head holder Couch in H&N Cancer Radiation Therapy

In case of all patients who receive radiation therapy, a treatment plan is established and all steps of treatment are planned in the same geometrical condition. In case of head and neck cancer patients who undergo simulated treatment through computed tomography (CT), patients are fixed onto a table for planning, but laid on the top of the treatment table in the radiation therapy room. This study excogitated and fabricated an adjustable holder for head and neck cancer patients to fix patient's position and geometrical discrepancies when performing radiation therapy on head and neck cancer patients, and compared the error before and after adjusting the position of patients due to difference in weight to evaluate the correlation between patients' weight and range of error. Computed tomography system(High Advantage, GE, USA) is used for phantom to maintain the supine position to acquire the images of the therapy site for IMRT. IMRT 4MV X-rays was used by applying the LINAC(21EX, Varian, U.S.A). Treatment planning system (Pinnacle, ver. 9.1h, Philips, Madison, USA) was used. The setup accuracy was compared with each measurement was repeated five times for each weight (0, 15, and 30Kg) and CBCT was performed 30 times to find the mean and standard deviation of errors before and after the adjustment of each weight. SPSS ver.19.0(SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL,USA) statistics program was used to perform the Wilcoxon Rank test for significance evaluation and the Spearman analysis was used as the tool to analyze the significance evaluation of the correlation of weight. As a result of measuring the error values from CBCT before and after adjusting the position due to the weight difference, X,Y,Z axis was $0.4{\pm}0.8mm$, $0.8{\pm}0.4mm$, 0 for 0Kg before the adjustment. In 15Kg CBCT before and after adjusting the position due to the weight difference, X,Y,Z axis was $0.2{\pm}0.8mm$, $1.2{\pm}0.4mm$, $2.0{\pm}0.4mm$. After adjusting position was X,Y,Z axis was $0.2{\pm}0.4mm$, $0.4{\pm}0.5mm$, $0.4{\pm}0.5mm$. In 30Kg CBCT before and after adjusting the position due to the weight difference, X,Y,Z axis was $0.8{\pm}0.4mm$, $2.4{\pm}0.5mm$, $4.4{\pm}0.8mm$. After adjusting position was X,Y,Z axis was $0.6{\pm}0.5mm$, $1.0{\pm}0mm$, $0.6{\pm}0.5mm$. When the holder for the head and neck cancer was used to adjust the ab.0ove error value, the error values from CBCT were $0.2{\pm}0.8mm$ for the X axis, $0.40{\pm}0.54mm$ for Y axis, and 0 for Z axis. As a result of statistically analyzing each value before and after the adjustment the value was significant with p<0.034 at the Z axis with 15Kg of weight and with p<0.038 and p<0.041 at the Y and Z axes respectively with 30Kg of weight. There was a significant difference with p<0.008 when the analysis was performed through Kruscal-Wallis in terms of the difference in the adjusted values of the three weight groups. As it could reduce the errors, patients' reproduction could be improved for more precise and accurate radiation therapy. Development of an adjustable device for head and neck cancer patients is significant because it improves the reproduction of existing equipment by reducing the errors in patients' position.

두경부암 방사선 치료 시 Set-Up 조정 Head Holder 장치의 개발

두경부암 환자의 헤드 홀더를 사용하는 경우 모의 치료 시 환자는 테이블 위에 위치하지만, 방사선 치료를 시행하는 경우 헤드 홀더를 치료 테이블에 걸쳐서 사용하기 때문에 체중 및 여러 가지 요소로 인한 기하학적 불일치로 상, 하, 좌, 우 및 처짐의 현상이 발생할 수 있다. 이러한 환자 Set-Up의 재현성의 불일치를 개선하기 위해 두경부암 전용 헤드 홀더를 자체 고안하여 제작 및 개발하여 유용성을 평가하였다. Alderson Rando Phantom을 이용하여 전산화단층촬영장치(High Advantage, GE, U.S.A)를 통해 이미지를 획득하였고, 광자선 4MV 세기변조 방사선치료(IMRT) 방식을 적용하여 최적화된 치료 계획을 실시하였다. 선형가속기(21EX, Varian, U.S.A)를 이용하여 모의 치료와 동일한 상태에서 환자를 set-up한 후 에 치료기에 장착된 CBCT를 이용하여 각각의 무게(0,15,30Kg)의 차이를 통해 교정 전, 후 X, Y, Z축의 오차를 5회 반복 측정한 결과는 다음과 같다. 0Kg에서 $0.4{\pm}0.8mm$, $0.8{\pm}0.4mm$, 0mm으로 나타났고, 교정 후에는 $0.2{\pm}0.8mm$, $0.4{\pm}0.5mm$, 0으로 나타났다. 15Kg에서 교정 전,후 오차는 $0.2{\pm}0.8mm$, $1.2{\pm}0.4mm$, $2.2{\pm}0.4mm$와 $0.2{\pm}0.4mm$, $0.4{\pm}0.5mm$, $0.4{\pm}0.5mm$로 나타났다. 30Kg에서 교정 전,후 오차는 $0.8{\pm}0.4mm$, $2.4{\pm}0.5mm$, $4.4{\pm}0.8mm$와 $0.6{\pm}0.54mm$, $1{\pm}0mm$, $0.6{\pm}0.5mm$로 나타났다. 각각의 교정 전,후의 통계적으로 분석한 결과 15Kg인 경우 Z축에서 p<0.034, 30Kg인 경우 Y, Z축에서 p<0.038, p<0.041 로 유의한 결과를 나타냈다. 두경부암 전용 방향 조절 장치 헤드 홀더가 환자의 set-up오차를 줄여주는 역할을 해주는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 오차를 줄여줌으로써 환자의 재현성이 향상되어 보다 정밀하고 정확한 방사선 치료를 구현할 수 있을 것으로 사료된다.