Case Study | December 15, 2011

The Protura robotic system with 6 degrees of freedom increases set-up accuracy and patient comfort.

Positioning System an Aid for SRS, SBRT

The team at Lynn Cancer Institute appreciates the accuracy and patient comfort provided by its Protura robotic positioning system.


As radiation treatments have advanced in complexity, treatment facilities such as the Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital have faced greater demands for accuracy and precision in treatment.

“Having the additional degrees of freedom (DOF) made possible by CIVCO’s Protura robotic patient positioning system has been an important advance for our program,” said Tim R. Williams, M.D., medical director, Lynn Cancer Institute, Boca Raton Regional Hospital. “We do more than 100 cases of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) a year and many cases require the additional precision that can only be achieved with roll, pitch and yaw motion. Particularly in base-of-skull tumors, the added accuracy of these table adjustments brings us to a level as high as or higher than any competing technology.”

CIVCO Medical Solutions’ Protura is a robotic system capable of positioning patients in 6DOF and lets therapists reposition patients without reentering the treatment room.

“Additional freedoms furnished by Protura 6D robotics immediately enhanced our program and gave us a higher confidence for setup accuracy,” said Charles Shang, M.S., B.MED, D.ABR, director of medical physics, Lynn Cancer Institute. “We are routinely using pitch and roll corrections in almost all our SBRT and SRS cases. Even some intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) cases with complicated geometry and setups have benefited from this technique.” The system’s accuracy and repeatability specs are 0.1mm and 0.1 degree, twice as accurate as any other system on the market.

Lynn Cancer Institute also sees an increase in workflow efficiencies. “Now that we automatically correct all 6-D displacements without reentering the room, Protura has improved set-up efficiency and hence patient comfort,” said Shang.  

Overall, Lynn Cancer Institute is enthusiastic about its experience with the Protura system. It has treated more than 100 patients with Protura and recommends the system to others. “To further improve the accuracy of patient alignment, Protura is one of the best solutions,” said Shang.

Lynn Cancer Institute is one of the largest cancer centers in South Florida and is accredited as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the American College of Surgeons. The Institute treats more than 3,000 cancer patients each year across multiple facilities.

Case study supplied by CIVCO.


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