Analysis on set-up errors of position fixation with simple perforated foam pad in colorectal cancer radiotherapy

Objective To explore the set-up errors of position fixation with simple perforated foam pad in colorectal cancer radiotherapy and their causes as well as the improvement measures. Methods Sixty cases of colorectal cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy were collected. Prone position was adopted with the position fixed by perforated foam pad and membrane. CBCT imaging was taken weekly before treatment, setup errors were corrected if necessary. Errors throughout the course of treatment for each patient were recorded and compared between patients, followed by analyzing the reasons of errors. Results Before calibration,the maximum errors on the direction of left and right(X-axis), front and back(Z), upside and downside(Y)in these 60 patients were 0.5cm,0.9cm and 0.7cm respectively with the average errors of(0.22±0.03)cm,(0.38±0.03)cm and(0.27±0.04)cm respectively. Conclusion The method of applying perforated foam pad and thermoplastic mask in colorectal cancer radiotherapy is currently the most commonly used in the clinical position fixation techniques, by which the small intestine, bladder and other pelvic tissues can be well protected.Due to poor comfort prone position,it is necessary to further improve perforated foam pad through improving the quality of the foam pad,thus improving patients comfort and positioning repeatability and reducing position fixation errors. Key words: Colorectal neoplasms; Radiotherapy; Set-up errors of position