Oscitome S5

The Oscitome S5 is the most sophisticated model. Besides producing rectangular and diverging shields and irregular treatment field shieldings, this machine also uses a milling device to create transmission filters and tissue compensators. The cutting and milling of the styrofoam is fully automated. No manual adjustments of the machine are required.

The operator can edit contours or contour points manually and add text, if required. He/she can also undo any mistakes that have been made.

The Oscitome saves all patient treatment-field contour data in ASCII text files. The size and weight of the resulting blocks are calculated and, where necessary, corrected before the real cutting process starts. The shapes of the contours can be obtained either from a simulator X-ray film, drawn by the radiotherapist, or from a Radiotherapy Treatment Planning System.

The Oscitome software can import files from all of the standard Treatment Planning Systems.

To start the cutting process, the operator just marks a point somewhere inside the shielding block contour. A hole is drilled through the styrofoam at this position. The cutting wire is pulled through and secured. Now the cutting starts from inside the block. This ensures that there are no seams to be sealed up and there is no leakage of molten alloy during casting.

The cutting wire is heated through oscillation until it is red-hot. The oscillation and friction against the styrofoam produce exactly the correct amount of heat to melt the styrofoam. This results in a razor-sharp cutout. Moreover, the corners are not rounded off unintentionally and the wire never gets too hot. The Oscitome system not only makes the cutting process easier and more precise, it also means that preparations for the work are more straightforward.

The Oscitome S5A includes a milling unit, which can be used to produce transmission blocks and compensators. You can use the installed Oscitome program to mill transmission filters, and the OsciMill program to create tissue compensators. The software demo in Chapter 2 describes the available options. To create these components, slices are generated and then cut out. In order to position the compensator on the tray plate, reference holes are drilled during the same process to ensure very precise positioning.

There is a wide range of options available for defining the slices. More complex filters can be imported after being calculated by the standard Radiotherapy Treatment Planning Systems, such as Varian-Cadplan(TM), MDS.Nordian-Theratronics Theraplan(TM), MDS.Nordian-Helax TMS(TM), Nucletron-Plato(TM) and Adac-Pinnacle(TM). Various editing functions are available. The self-test can be run in order to trace areas that are impossible to mill. When a standard HPGLŽ compatible printer or plotter is connected to your system, the Oscimill program can also print or plot the filter in landscape mode. On this plot, the shape of the filter can be checked for any irregularities.

The plotter (OsciPlott) for drawing the block shapes on the tray plate is built into the Oscitome.