Harpell Associates - Radiation Oncology, Medical Physics, Diagnostic Imaging, Nuclear Medicine, PET, Radiology, Ultrasound, Radiation Safety

Positioning of the Breast and Thorax

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Modern techniques for the treatment of breast and thorax and upper abdomen can require immobilization devices that insure accurate and reproducible positioning setups with a focus on patient comfort.

Positioning and immobilization equipment has proven beneficial during radiation treatments of fields with small margins. Patients with lung or breast cancer are usually treated in the supine position with the arms raised up and out of the treatment field. The capability to also vary the angle of positioning, for the upper body of the patient, adds increased flexibility to the patient setup. This feature creates the potential to avoid unnecessary irradiation of healthy tissue and critical organs.

Sinmed's Posiboard-2 is a carbon fiber breastboard that can easily position the upper body in 8 different angles. A choice of arm support options ensures a comfortable and reproducible position of the arms regardless of the inclination or patient's physical limitations. The 'bottom stop' is an integrated and adjustable support that keeps the patient from sliding down the angled breastboard during longer procedures such as CT scanning or simulation. This unique system is designed to fit through most common CT scanners. It can be indexed on any treatment couch with optional fixation brackets.

The Posirest-2 is ideal for lung and breast treatments done in a flat supine position. It has the same arm support options as the Posiboard-2. This system can be indexed to any couch top via a Sinmed couch top fixation rail.

The Posiboard-2 and Posirest-2 are both made of a low-density foam core, covered with thin layers of carbon fiber for negligible beam attenuation and a minimal build-up effect. The Posirest-2 is also available in a glass fiber version. Glass fiber is a cost effective alternative for use during simulation or CT scanning, where low beam attenuation is not a factor.

The arm supports are covered with a foam padding that can be easily cleaned. A polyethylene head support ensures comfortable head positioning. For added versatility, other Sinmed head supports can also be used with the Posiboard-2 and Posirest-2 systems.

For less complicated setups, the lightweight and easy to use Thorawedge system is an cost effective alternative.

The PET Arm Support has been developed to overcome the challenges of setting up lung patients in a small bore PET CT unit. The following pages show the numerous possibilities these products have to offer.



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