The Mould Room
The Mould Room provides a clinical and technical service for patients who need a course of radiotherapy treatment to the head and neck and in some cases the chest area and limbs. These devices are primarily designed to immobilise the area during treatment so that the radiotherapy can be delivered.
Patients who require these devices will be introduced to a group of trained professional staff known as clinical technologists.
The devices known as BDS' (Beam Direction Shells) allow the accurate delivery of X rays to a specific treatment site.
How are moulds (Beam Direction Shells - BDS) created?
The patient will be asked to lie on a bed in a position suitable for their treatment. A pre-cut thermoplastic sheet is placed in a water bath to soften it. When it is softened, it is dried and placed onto the patient and moulded around their contours. After around 5 minutes, the new Beam Direction Shell is then removed from the patient. Each BDS is specific to the individual patient, so a label is attached with all the relevant patient details.
What is a BDS for?
The BDS:
- Helps to keep the patient still during treatment
- Helps with localisation of the tumour site in CT planning
- Aids accurate setup in targeting the treatment site
- Helps to keep the treatment consistent everyday.