Comparison of the clinical performance of a hybrid Alba 4D and the AMC-4 locoregional hyperthermia systems

Figures & data

Figure 1. The in-house developed AMC-4/8 system (left), which can be used as a single ring of four antennas (AMC-4) or two rings of eight antennas (AMC-8) and the Alba 4D (right; Medlogix^®, Rome, Italy) locoregional hyperthermia systems.

Table 1. Overview of treatments per patient with the AMC-4 (grey) and Alba 4D (blue) locoregional hyperthermia systems.

ID	Tumor site	Number of sessions			Session
		AMC-4	Alba 4D	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
1	Pancreas	4	9	13
2	Cervix	2	1	3
3	Cervix	1	4	5
4	Vagina	4	1	5
5	Cervix	4	1	5
6	Cervix	3	2	5
7	Cervix	3	2	5
8	Vagina	3	2	5
9	Uterus	4	1	5
10	Cervix	3	2	5
11	Pancreas	3	2	5
	Total	34	27	61

Figure 2. The applied power per patient for each hyperthermia treatment session with the Alba 4D (blue) and the AMC-4 (grey) locoregional hyperthermia systems.

Figure 3. The achieved intraluminal T90 for each patient during the treatment sessions. Treatments with the Alba 4D are depicted in blue and treatments with the AMC-4 locoregional hyperthermia system in grey.

Figure 4. The applied power versus the achieved intraluminal T90. Each patient has a unique symbol; the color indicates the locoregional hyperthermia system: Alba 4D in blue, AMC-4 in grey. For both devices the mean applied power and achieved T90 are displayed with dashed lines.

Table 2. Treatment characteristics presented as mean ± SD or median (range).

Parameter	Alba 4D	AMC-4	p Value
Power (W)	500 ± 79	526 ± 108	0.48
T0 (°C)	42.6 ± 1.5	43.1 ± 1.0	0.30
T10 (°C)	41.5 ± 1.1	41.9 ± 0.8	0.22
T50 (°C)	40.5 ± 1.0	40.8 ± 0.7	0.29
T90 (°C)	39.4 ± 0.9	39.9 ± 0.7	0.10
T100 (°C)	38.6 ± 0.8	39.0 ± 0.9	0.13
Treatment time (min)	85 (55 − 92)	88 (55 − 90)	0.24
Complaints per session	0 (0 − 8)	1 (0 − 8)	0.34

Differences in treatment characteristics for both devices were tested for by linear mixed models for repeated measures with patient as random intercept.

Table 3. Advantages and disadvantages mentioned by patients and staff members.

	Alba 4D	AMC-4
+	Professional appearance Integrated cooling fans Laser positioning system More comfortable patient position due to a wider mattress at the head/arms. Several sized top boluses Very thin patients can be treated	Faster start of treatment Faster filling of water boluses Open water boluses allow for easier abdominal breathing
−	Start of treatment is slower Selection of too large top bolus can feel heavy Selection of too small top bolus can feel tight Additional cooling fan still necessary	Less professional appearance (in-house built) Less accurate patient positioning