ESTRO 2025 - Abstract Book

S4433

Late-breaking abstracts

ESTRO 2025

5028

Proffered Paper OPEN: Optimising Patient Experience in head and Neck radiotherapy, A phase 3 randomized control trial comparing open versus closed face masks Jill T Nicholson 1,2 , Samantha Ryan 1 , Ciaran Malone 1 , Roisin O'Maolalai 1 , Orla McArdle 1,3 , Frances K Duane 1,2 , Lorna Keenan 1,3 , john armstrong 1 , Aisling Glynn 1 , Bahareh Khosravi 1 , Ruth Woods 1 , Brendan McClean 1 , William Garrett 1 , Rachel harwood 1 , Michelle Leech 2 , Sara Faithful 2 , Victoria Lunt 3 , Nicola Elmer 1 , Sinead Brennan 1,2 1 Radiation Oncology, St Luke's Radiation Oncology Network, Dublin, Ireland. 2 Discipline of Radiation Therapy, Trinity St James’s Cancer Institute, Trinity College Dublin,, Dublin, Ireland. 3 Beaumont Cancer Institue, Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, Dublin, Ireland Purpose/Objective Traditional radiotherapy masks are associated with significant patient anxiety and claustrophobia 1 . Technological advances such as surface guided radiation therapy (SGRT) enabling highly minimalistic open masks should be leveraged to maximise patient’s radiotherapy experience, provided accuracy can be maintained. This is the largest prospective trial comparing setup accuracy and patient experience between three types of head and neck masks; standard closed 5-point, open 3-point and open 5-point radiotherapy mask (Figure 1) 2-4 .

Material/Methods The primary objective of this three-arm randomized phase 3 trial was to compare the setup accuracy of three different masks. Secondary objectives include: 1)examining patients' distress levels at two distinct points during radiotherapy using GHQ-12 validated questionnaire and additional questions, 2)assessing the benefits of SGRT monitoring intra-fraction motion, and 3)evaluating differences in resource utilisation across the three groups. Patient randomisation was 1:1:1. Inclusion criteria were patients undergoing radical head and neck radiotherapy. Radiotherapy was delivered with 3mm PTV margins and daily online imaging with CBCT, using SGRT with open masks.