At present, megavoltage computed tomography (MVCT) is the only method used to correct the position of tomotherapy patients. MVCT produces extra radiation, in addition to the radiation used for treatment, and repositioning also takes up much of the total treatment time. To address these issues, we suggest the use of a video image–guided setup (VIGS) system for correcting the position of tomotherapy patients. We developed an in-house program to correct the exact position of patients using two orthogonal images obtained from two video cameras installed at 90º and fastened inside the tomotherapy gantry. The system is programmed to make automatic registration possible with the use of edge detection of the user-defined region of interest (ROI). A head-and-neck patient is then simulated using a humanoid phantom. After taking the computed tomography (CT) image, tomotherapy planning is performed. To mimic a clinical treatment course, we used an immobilization device to position the phantom on the tomotherapy couch and, using MVCT, corrected its position to match the one captured when the treatment was planned. Video images of the corrected position were used as reference images for the VIGS system. First, the position was repeatedly corrected 10 times using MVCT, and based on the saved reference video image, the patient position was then corrected 10 times using the VIGS method. Thereafter, the results of the two correction methods were compared. The results demonstrated that patient positioning using a video-imaging method (41.7±11.2 seconds) significantly reduces the overall time of the MVCT method (420±6 seconds) (p＜0.05). However, there was no meaningful difference in accuracy between the two methods (x=0.11 mm, y=0.27 mm, z=0.58 mm, p＞0.05). Because VIGS provides a more accurate result and reduces the required time, compared with the MVCT method, it is expected to manage the overall tomotherapy treatment process more efficiently.

KeywordsTomotherapy, Image guidance, Patient positioning