BACKGROUND: The use of the belly board device (BBD) in the prone position has gained acceptance to spare small bowel in @entity5 @entity1 irradiated postoperatively, but there are few data in the preoperative setting, and the advantages of the BBD regarding normal tissue sparing may be counteracted by problems of @entity1 positioning. This study was undertaken to investigate prospectively the influence of the BBD on treatment reproducibility in @entity1 irradiated preoperatively in the prone position. @entity1 AND METHODS: 23 @entity1 with @entity189 in clinical stages II/III were included in this study. @entity2270 displacement was evaluated in 14 @entity1 treated without the BBD and nine with. The BBD is a commercial device (Belly Board, Radiation Products Design, Albertville, MN) made of a 17-cm thick hard sponge with an opening of 42 x 42 cm2. No specific @entity1 immobilization devices were used. During radiotherapy, twelve @entity1 had four control films, while eleven @entity1 had three. The mean treatment position deviation was calculated for the medio-lateral, cranio-caudal and antero-posterior directions. RESULTS: When comparing the first control film to the corresponding simulation film for @entity1 without the BBD and with the BBD, the mean lateral displacements were 1.5 mm and 3.2 mm (p = 0.26), the mean cranio-caudal displacements were 1.55 mm and 4.2 mm (p = 0.13), and the mean antero-posterior displacements were 1.8 mm and 4.5 mm (p = 0.04), respectively. When considering all control films, for the three directions, the amplitudes of the displacements were greater when using the BBD, particularly for the antero-posterior direction where the difference was highly significant (p = 0.0006). CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that, in @entity1 treated prone for @entity5 , the use of the BBD in the preoperative setting without immobilization devices was associated with problems of @entity1 position reproducibility, particularly for the antero-posterior direction. Thus, the use of @entity1 immobilization devices and/or individual custom-made BBD may be recommended if a decision to treat the @entity1 with a BBD is taken.

Impact of the "belly board" device on treatment reproducibility in preoperative radiotherapy for XXXX .

@entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['rectal cancer'] @entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients', 'patient', 'PATIENTS'] @entity2270 :: ('MESH:C566610', 'Disease') :: ['Axis'] @entity189 :: ('MESH:D002277', 'Disease') :: ['rectal carcinoma']
@entity5 :: (MESH:D009369,Disease) :: ['rectal cancer']
