Prostate immobilization using a rectal balloon.

Overview

We use a rectal balloon for prostate immobilization during intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) prostate treatment. To improve the accuracy of our prostate planning target volume, we have measured prostate displacements using computed tomography (CT)-CT fusion on patients that previously received gold seed implants. The study consists of ten patients that were scanned twice per week during the course of IMRT treatment. In addition to biweekly scans, breathing studies were performed on each patient to estimate organ motion during treatment. The prostate displacement in the anterior-posterior and the lateral direction is minimal, on the order of measurement uncertainty (~1 mm). The standard deviation of the superior-inferior (SI) displacements is 1.78 mm. The breathing studies show that no organ displacement was detected during normal breathing conditions with a rectal balloon.