Evaluation of the Sinmed Mastercouch® as replacement for a standard couch

Dose perturbations by two carbon fiber treatment couches and the ability of a commercial treatment planning system to predict these effects

“…Similar results have been reported by other authors for a range of carbon fiber devices and beams. 20,26,[41][42][43] We demonstrate that the XiO superposition beam model, as implemented at our center, does not accurately calculate the basal tissue dose for open beams. Venselaar et al 44 suggest that in this region the TPS should predict dose to within 15% of local dose or have a distance to agreement between 2 and 3 mm depending on the complexity of the geometry.…”

The Effect of a Carbon-Fiber Couch on the Depth-Dose Curves and Transmission Properties for Megavoltage Photon Beams

“…Carbon-fiber tabletops are an important tool for the delivery of these techniques [3,7,13]. One of their most important advantages is the lack in gantry direction limitations, which is often found for common treatment tables based on steel frames with different inserts.…”

“…For posterior and oblique irradiation fields it is required that tabletops offer minimal beam attenuation for high-energy photon beams. Carbon fiber does not only provide a strong, rigid and light framework as a tabletop, it is also relatively radiotranslucent and provides support without sagging [3,7,9]. Besides, there is reduced distortion in dose distribution within the target volume as described by Bratengeier et al [3].…”

Impact of 6MV photon beam attenuation by carbon fiber couch and immobilization devices in IMRT planning and dose delivery

“…[26–8] Attenuation of the beam through carbon fiber couch has been reported. [2467] These studies were concerned with direct incidence of beam on the couch. Studies[1] on Sinmed BV Posisert carbon fiber support for 6MV beam have reported 8.7% beam attenuation at gantry angle of 70°.…”