Project case: Sagittilt - immobilisation device for prone positioning for breast irradiation
When professor Philippe Coucke of the University Hospital of Liège (Belgium) approached Aeriane SA with the request to develop a breast cancer treatment device, this was a logical step as such equipment must be transparent for the radiating beam. Hence the use of carbon-fibre as a construction material is mandatory and composite materials are Aeriane’ s core business.
BERTE, having a long lasting collaboration with Aeriane, was asked to develop, in close cooperation with Professor Coucke and his team, a concept radically different from existing systems. The concept was elaborated through a process of studies combined with a pragmatic approach building hands-on test setups. Key development items are patient comfort, treatment positioning repeatability, safety, irradiation efficiency and the usability for the hospital staff. The result was crystalized in a fully functional prototype, the ‘blue proto’, which was intensively used for patient treatment simulations.
Orfit NV adopted the project as the commercial partner and their unique thermoplastic immobilisation technology was applied in the design. The ORFIT ‘Sagittilt Prone Breast Solution’ was born!
In a last phase of the project we were asked to design a trolley used for storing and moving the equipment. An interesting small project dealing with ergonomics, safety and minimizing the use of valuable hospital floorspace.
