Abstract #2791

Tissue positional repeatability in head and neck revealed by a dedicated MR simulator: Is positioning verification using bony landmarks adequate in radiotherapy treatment?

Abby Y. Ding¹, Oi Lei Wong¹, Jing Yuan¹, Max W.K. Law¹, K.F. Cheng², K. T. Chan², Gladys G. Lo³, K.Y. Cheung¹, and Siu Ki Yu¹

¹Medical Physics & Research Department, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, Hong Kong, China, People's Republic of, ²Department of Radiotherapy, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, Hong Kong, China, People's Republic of, ³Department of Diagnostic & Interventional Radiology, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, Hong Kong, China, People's Republic of

Current positioning verification in radiotherapy mainly relies on bony structures using X-ray based imaging techniques, where visualization of tumor and soft organ-at-risk is relatively poor. This study aimed to assess the positional repeatability of soft and bony structures, and investigate the correlation between the positional deviations of various head and neck (H&N) tissues. Our results suggested that the current positioning verification practice for radiotherapy relying mainly on bony structure may be inadequate and inefficient in H&N. MR-simulator may play a potential role in improving H&N radiotherapy by enabling positional verification directly on target tissues rather than simply on bony structure.

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