Preparing for pelvic radiotherapy

A comparison of three versions of preparing patients for pelvic radiotherapy

Published on September 1, 2023

The oncology unit at University Hospital Southampton recognised that pelvic patients, in particular prostate patients, were requiring multiple visits and attempts at both CT scan and treatment appointments. Recognising that this was a resource concern for the department, an investigation into how to improve efficiency in managing the pelvic cohort was initiated. The purpose of this study is to compare three different methods of preparing pelvic patients for radiotherapy treatment, with success to be measured in terms of successful CT scans and treatment appointments.

Literature review

Why?

Preparing patients with pelvic cancers for radiotherapy treatment has been highlighted since the use of image guided radiotherapy (IGRT) and the realisation that the pelvic anatomy is very mobile. Stabilisation of pelvic anatomy has been shown to reduce intra- and inter-fraction movement, while improving the acute and long-term side effects and disease-free survival inclusive of death1....

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