Design and manufacturing of a head mask for fixation in stereotactic radiosurgery by the Gamma Knife® Icon™

Moneer K Faraj; Mustafa Salih Al-Musawi; Tabarek Ali Abdulameer

doi:10.25259/SNI_1053_2022

Design and manufacturing of a head mask for fixation in stereotactic radiosurgery by the Gamma Knife^® Icon™

Surg Neurol Int. 2023 Jun 2:14:188. doi: 10.25259/SNI_1053_2022. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Moneer K Faraj¹, Mustafa Salih Al-Musawi², Tabarek Ali Abdulameer²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq.
² Department of Medical Physics, College of Medicine, Al-Mustansyria University, Baghdad, Iraq.

Abstract

Background: This study evaluates an alternative to the classical method of head fixation during Gamma Knife radiosurgery using a Leksell head frame. In the Gamma Knife^® Icon™ model, a new method of head fixation is used by utilizing a thermal molded polymer mask that takes the shape of the patient's head before fixing the head to the table. However, this mask is for single use and quite expensive.

Methods: We describe a new, very economical method to fix the head of the patient during radiosurgery. We used commercial, quite cheap material [polylactic acid (PLA)] plastic and made a 3D printing model for the patient's face, taking special measurements to put this mask and fix it on the Gamma Knife. The actual material cost is only $4 (100 times less than the original mask cost).

Results: The new mask efficiency was tested using the movement checker software, the same one used to measure the efficiency of the original mask.

Conclusion: The newly designed and manufactured mask is quite effective for use with the Gamma Knife^® Icon™, with a much lower cost, and it can be manufactured locally.

Keywords: Gamma Knife® Icon™; Head fixation; Mask.