When having treatment to the head, neck or upper chest a radiotherapy mask will help you to keep still. This is important because even small changes in the position of your chin, head or shoulders can affect the accuracy of your treatment.
Your mask will clip to the head rest which sits on the treatment couch but is not fastened to it. The marks used to position you for treatment are drawn onto the mask and not on your face or neck.
Your mask will be made from a sheet of thermoplastic mesh (as shown below) or a thin sheet of clear plastic. There is a large hole so you can breathe normally during and after mask making. Eye holes may be cut out of the mask.
You will be given an appointment for the mould room before your planning scan. Please allow 30 minutes for your Mould Room appointment.
How is the thermoplastic mask made?
The mould room technicians will explain the procedure and then position you on the couch in the correct treatment position. The thermoplastic sheet is softened in a warm water bath for about three minutes.
Excess water is then removed and the mask is placed over your head and neck and gently moulded to your shape.
It will feel warm and damp, but does not hurt.
It gradually hardens and cooling gel packs are used to speed up the setting process.
The mask takes approximately 10 minutes to fully set and is then carefully removed.
How is the clear plastic mask made?
You will have two appointments in the mould room for this mask to be made.
On the first visit we will need to take an impression of your head and neck using plaster of Paris bandages. This does not hurt but it is a bit messy. The warm damp bandages are gently moulded to your shape and set in a matter of minutes. The impression is carefully removed and used by the technicians to make your custom made mask.
When you return for your second appointment, the clear plastic mask will be ready to be fitted to you.
Preparing for your appointment
- Upper clothing, including bras, may need to be removed but you will be given a gown. We suggest you wear clothing that can easily be removed for example separates.
- If you are having a clear mask made, please do not wear your best clothes for the plaster of Paris session. This is because dust from the plaster bandages may settle on your clothes.
- Dentures, wigs, hearing aids, hair grips/bobbles, earrings and necklaces will need to be removed before your mask is made.
- If you normally use denture fixative, please avoid doing so before your Mould Room appointment. Your dentures will always need to be removed, even if they are plastic.
- If you need a haircut please have this done before your mould room appointments, or leave it until after your treatment has finished. If you have a beard, we recommend you shave or give it a close trim before your mould room appointment. Once your mask is made, please keep your hair/beard the same length, otherwise your mask will not fit correctly.
What happens after the mask is made?
You may have a CT scan and /or a MRI scan, or you may be free to go home. You will wear your mask for your CT and / or MRI scan. Each scan session can take about 30 to 60 minutes, and may need to be performed on separate days. These scans help us to plan your radiotherapy treatment. You will be given your next appointment dates before you leave.
During your treatment, the mask will be carefully fitted and removed by the radiographers and kept at the hospital. If you would like to keep your mask and take it home on your last day of treatment, please ask one of the radiographers.
Mould Room staff
If you have any questions or concerns before coming, please contact a member of the Mould Room staff via telephone.
For more information on how the masks are made please watch our video:
Did you get here okay today? Yes, thank you. Traffic was fine.
Oh, that’s good. And you get parked okay as well? Yeah, that was fine.
Fabulous. Come on through. And this is Meera, my colleague who I’m working with today. Okay, so we’re going to make a mask for you today that looks a little
bit like this. So, it’s still nice and flexible with plenty of [music] room for you to breathe around your nose and mouth area. The purpose of the mask, it
just keeps you nice and still when you’re having your radiotherapy [music] treatment, making sure that we can get you in the same position each time you come, which makes sure that the
radiation’s going exactly [music] where we expect it to go to. So, it starts out as a flat sheet of plastic like those ones under there. [music] Mirror’s
Meera’s warming it up in our bath, which makes it go all see-through, soft, and stretchy. [music] Kind of feels like a gel. So, in a moment, what we’ll do, we’ll get you changed into a gown.
Um, we’ll get you laid on our bed nice and straight. We’ve got something that goes under [music] your head, something that goes under your knees, and we’ll get you as comfortable
as possible. Um, we do pop a cap over your hair. It just helps us lift the [music] mask off at the end. Lovely. And then we’re going to give you some hand grips to hold on to.
We need to make sure you’re nice and straight on the bed [music] using this laser. We’ll move you. You lay nice and heavy.
That’s perfect. Then what we do is we take the material out of the [music] water, dry it off, stretch it over so it
just feels a little bit warm and damp when it first goes on. Kind of like a warm towel. And you’ll just feel us mold it perfectly to your shape.
Breathe away as normal.
Okay. And now we’re just going to mold it perfectly to your shape. You’re doing really well there.
It [music] takes about 7 minutes to set all together. We do pop some cool packs on to just [music] help speed up that process. Um then once we’re happy, we’ll
be putting your ID on some stickers and tape.
Just a few pen marks to help line you up.
Um, then once we’re happy, then we’ll lift it off, try it back on to make [music] sure it fits nicely once it’s set.
We’re all done. And then you’ll be having a CT [music] scan after this.