Novel modified patient immobilisation device with an integrated coil support system for MR-guided online adaptive radiotherapy in the management of brain and head-and-neck tumours.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MR)-guided online adaptive radiotherapy is a promising technique in the field of radiation oncology providing excellent visualisation of soft-tissues, and allowing for online plan adaptation and tumour tracking. In order to facilitate the accurate dose delivery to the target volume while sparing healthy surrounding normal tissue in the brain or head-and-neck (H&N) region, precise patient immobilisation with good image quality is pertinent. Herein, we present a customised thermoplastic mask holder with an integrated anterior MR receiver coil support system for MR-guided online adaptive radiotherapy in the brain and head-and-neck region. The approved medical product was developed by Innovative Technologie Voelp (IT-V), Innsbruck, Austria. MR image uniformity measurements demonstrated improved image uniformity at the expense of decreased signal-to-noise ratio due to a more defined and larger distance between the anterior receiver coil and the phantom or patient. This integrated coil support system represents a practical solution facilitating stable and reproducible anterior coil placement while maintaining the thermoplastic mask holder functionality, a widely established immobilisation technique.
Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: SC and CB have received research grants and speaker fees/travel support from Viewray Inc (Oakwood Village, Ohio). MN has received research grants from Viewray (Oakwood Village, Ohio). All other authors declare no conflict of interest related to this work. Furthermore, we have no existing conflicts of interest with Innovative Technologie Voelp (IT-V), Innsbruck, Austria. Payment was made in full for the medical device.
(© 2021 The Authors.)