What role does using immobilization devices serve during treatment?

Using immobilization devices during treatment plays a crucial role in ensuring consistent patient positioning. This is particularly important in radiation therapy, where precise targeting of tumor areas is essential to maximizing treatment effectiveness while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissues.

By keeping patients in the same position for each treatment session, immobilization devices help to reproduce the same treatment geometry, thereby allowing dosimetrists and radiation oncologists to deliver the prescribed dose accurately. Any slight movement of the patient could lead to variations in the treatment delivery, potentially reducing its efficacy and increasing the risk of side effects.

While enhancing patient comfort and reducing overall treatment time are relevant factors in a treatment plan, the primary purpose of immobilization devices is to maintain stable positioning. Monitoring vital signs is generally not a role that immobilization devices serve, as that function typically involves other medical equipment designed specifically for tracking physiological parameters.