Medical mask wearing during treatment for patients undergoing radiotherapy in covid-19 pandemic – an experience of protocol setup and dosimetric evaluation for particle/proton beam therapy

Yu Ming Wang, Yang Wei Hsieh, Bing Shen Huang, Kuo Chiang Sung, Kuo Jung Juan, Steve P. Lee, Shen Hao Lee*, Eng Yen Huang*

*此作品的通信作者

研究成果: 期刊稿件文章同行評審

3 引文 斯高帕斯(Scopus)

摘要

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused extreme challenges for the healthcare system. Medical masks have been proven to effectively block disease transmission. Radiotherapeutic departments are at unique risk for disease exposure with the repeated daily treatment schedule. A protocol of mask wearing during daily treatment was established, and the effect of wearing medical masks on dosimetry during proton beam therapy (PBT) was validated. Methods: A department protocol of medical mask wearing was initiated after the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical masks that were made under standardized specification and regulation were obtained for analyses. The physical and dosimetric characteristics of these medical masks were measured by different proton energies using commercialized measurement tools. Results: Patients and staff were able to adopt the protocol on a weekly basis, and no adverse events were reported. The average physical thickness of a single piece of medical mask was 0.5 mm with a water equivalent thickness (WET) of 0.1 mm. Conclusion: Our study revealed that mask wearing for patients undergoing daily radiotherapy is feasible and can provide basic protection for patients and staff. The impact of mask wearing on dosimetry was only 0.1 mm in WET, which has no impact on clinical PBT treatment. A medical mask-wearing policy can be applied safely without dosimetric concerns and should be considered as a standard practice for PBT centers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

原文英語
頁(從 - 到)869-873
頁數5
期刊Risk Management and Healthcare Policy
14
DOIs
出版狀態已出版 - 2021

文獻附註

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Wang et al.

指紋

深入研究「Medical mask wearing during treatment for patients undergoing radiotherapy in covid-19 pandemic – an experience of protocol setup and dosimetric evaluation for particle/proton beam therapy」主題。共同形成了獨特的指紋。

引用此