The effect of the iBEAM Evo carbon fiber tabletop on skin sparing

Replicating the attenuation properties of the treatment tabletop are of primary importance for accurate treatment planning; however, the effect of the tabletop on the skin-sparing properties of x-rays can be overlooked. Under some conditions, the reaction of skin to the radiation can be so serious as to be the dose-limiting organ for radiotherapy treatment. Hence, an understanding of the magnitude of the reduction in skin sparing is important. Because of the development of image-guided radiotherapy, modern tabletops have been developed without the use of metal supports that otherwise provided the necessary level of rigidity. Rigidity is instead provided by compressed foam within a carbon-fiber shell, which, although it provides artefact-free imaging and high levels of rigidity, has an adverse affect on the dose in the build-up region. Representative of this type is the iBEAM evo tabletop, whose effect on the skin dose was determined at 6-MV, 10-MV, and 18-MV x-rays. Skin dose was found to increase by 60-70% owing to the tabletop, with the effect increasing with field size and decreasing with energy. By considering an endpoint of erythema, a radiobiological advantage of selecting 10 MV over 6 MV for applicable treatments was demonstrated.