The Modern Approach in Repositioning for Radiation Therapy
Showing Dignity and Increasing Comfort and Security
Cancer treatments can be scary, cold, and very uncomfortable. Make all of your patients, especially your palliative therapy patients, as comfortable as you can by using Alpha Cradle brand repositioning forms. They offer warmth, comfort and security, allowing your patient to relax while remaining immobilized during treatment.
Reduce Misalignments
Reducing rates of misalignments reduces the number of repeated port films, saving therapists and oncologists precious time. Therapists find it easier and faster to prepare for treatment, as each patient wiggles back into their form, until they are comfortable, in their original set-up position. Making patients comfortable encourages them to hold still while the form most accurately immobilizes them. Comfortable patients can be treated in less time, with fewer treatment errors.
No noxious smells of TDI, CFCs or formaldehyde gas occur, as our medical foam contains none of these toxic chemicals. Precise accuracy is assured with pre-measured bottles, not chemicals you stir with a stick. Our medical grade foam is measured on self-calibrating electronic scales that are accurate to within the nearest tenth of a gram! Our foam is the only medical foam in the world that incorporates the use of accordion-style bottles for maximum safety during the mixing process.
Our proprietary foam has never been duplicated. It has been reformulated three times over the course of its history; each time being tested at a leading medical center after hundreds of tests at our testing facility. Additionally, for maximum safety, our foam was tested for toxicology at an outside, independent laboratory. MDI vapor concentrations, measured at the top of a lined container, simulating a worst case scenario–a spill–found levels barely detectable, and far, far below standards set for PEL by OSHA. No other company has gone to such extremes to create the safest, most reliable and tested foam on the market today.
Using our foam is easy. Each set comes with two pre-measured bottles of foam. Bottle #1, with a small mouth, is poured into Bottle #2 that has a large mouth. The mixture is recapped and shaken vigorously, for 10 timed seconds. This begins a chain reaction that creates an exothermic reaction expanding the foam’s volume up to 40 times.
As the foam rises, the top layers act as an insulator, protecting your patient from internal heat temperatures which can reach 150 degrees Celsius. On the patient’s skin, the temperature of the rising foam only reaches 115 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of a comfortably warm water bottle. This rising foam surrounds your patient in warmth and comfort, immobilizing them in an easily reproduced position.
Accordion-Style Bottles
From our smallest sizes of foaming agents up to the popular and most widely used AC325 (for most adult molds), the foam is poured into accordion-style bottles. These patented bottles are exclusively used by Smithers Medical Products, Inc. in the field of radiation therapy.
When ready to add the contents of bottle #1, you expand the middle portion of the collapsed ribs of the bottle, after removing the cap. Keep the top three ribs, marked with a red marker, collapsed. This is a safety feature to prevent an explosion of foam at your facility. If you shake the foam too long, the top three ribs will begin to expand. If you open the bottle at that point, the foam will shoot out of the bottle.
If you notice the three top ribs beginning to expand, immediately place the bottle, with cap on, in the provided bag. Wrap it in the bag and place in a lined trash receptacle. When the lid blows off, it will harmlessly spread foam inside the bag. If this happens, call our office and we will replace the set of foam free of charge. Safety with each bottle is just one more feature that sets us apart from other device manufacturers.
Learn How the ACMMII (Alpha Cradle Mold Maker) and the Alpha Cradle Patient Repositioning System Make the Custom Forms You Need
Over the next two sections, you will learn how to use our two different systems for immobilizing and repositioning patients. Both systems work to provide comfort and security, while easily immobilizing your patient.
The ACMMII, a wooden slotted board with different size and shaped dividers, allow you to create the form you need, by first mixing the foam and pouring it into a bag. Next, the patient lies down on the bag and you place them in the desired set-up position. Using the dividers, maneuver the bag, holding it tightly against the patient as the foam rises and takes shape. When finished, you have a customized anatomical device that fits on top of a particular treatment aid you may be using, such as a head holder.
This system is more “hands on”, as you have to lift the bag of rising foam and place the dividers where you need them to hold the bag in place.
The Alpha Cradle Patient Repositioning System, a series of 40 different anatomical, prefabricated forms, is available to fill the needs you encounter on a daily basis. We offer 10 different anatomical molds just for breast patients. Some simply cover the thorax region, while others incorporate immobilization of the head. Our patented extended forms start above the patient’s head and extend below their knees, for maximum control of torso rotation, providing perfect alignment of the patient for each treatment.
We offer different anatomical molds for prostate, lung, head, head & neck (which improves the use of thermoplastic face molds), CNS, extremities, and every piece of anatomy in between. We also have a side form for your decubitus patient. These prefabricated forms are easier to use, and departments that have revolving staff find that these forms are easy for new staff members to adapt to easily.