The three main treatment modalities used in cancer management are surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. The World Health Organisation recognises that at least 50% of all patients with cancer require radiation therapy at some stage of their disease and up to 60% would benefit from radiation therapy.(1) Accuracy in treatment preparation and delivery is a importantcomponent of modern radiotherapy and requires knowledge and understanding of the technology used in radiotherapy and the site within the body that is irradiated.(2) One of the factors that presents...

A group of 42 patients with pelvic tumors, including malignant neoplasms of the prostate, cervix, endometrium, rectal, or secondary neoplasms of bone and bone marrow, were clinically stable were treated in supine position (OmniBoard™, Figure 1) with possible indexing of tibiotarsal support, popliteal support, arm support and cervical support. All indexed supports are adjusted to the anatomy of the patient, in order to provide the most comfortable and stable treatment position, and to allow greater reproducibility success. Three different instruments were used for data collection:...

Regarding results about the question:“how comfortable did you find your treatment position during radiation treatment over the last week”(table1), the main results corresponded, for the comfort index, on a scale of 1 (without discomfort) to 10 (very uncomfortable), to a mean of 3.79. Concerning the second question of the instrument “Patient comfort visual analogue scale”, this is to measure “how was your experience to stay still and maintain your treatment position during radiation treatment over the last week”. The answer to this question is made...

Considering the results achieved, it was possible to reflect on the perception of the comfort manifested by the patients, in view of the positioning and immobilization system used during the treatments, being that most patients, as in other studies, indicated comfortable in their position of treatment, with stability. Regarding the reproducibility index evaluated in this study, small deviations of positioning were observed in all movement axes, with no significant therapeutic importance, and that both systematic deviations and random deviations measured indicated that the treatments were...

Sónia Rodrigues (MSc), Professor in the Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy Department, Health School - University of Algarve, Portugal.Radiographer in Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve - Faro, Portugal. E-mail:[email protected] João Sousa (BSc), Collaborator in the Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy Department, Health School - University of Algarve, Portugal. Luís Ribeiro (PhD), Professor in the Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy Department, Health School - University of Algarve, Portugal.Researcher in CIDAF – University of Coimbra (Centro de Investigação do Desporto e da Atividade Física) and Member of Studies Center in...

1.European Comission- Directorate General Health and Consumer Protection - Europe Against Cancer Programme. Review of the European Core Curriculum for Radiotherapy Technologists, s/d. 2.A Handbook for the Education of Radiation Therapists (RTTs), International atomic energy agency Vienna, 2014 3.Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro (ed. lit.). Direitos gerais do doente oncológico. 3rd ed. Lisboa: Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro; 2016. 4.Pang EPP, Knight K, Baird M,et al.A comparison of interfraction setup error, patient comfort, and therapist acceptance for 2 different prostate radiation therapy immobilization devices.Advances in...