Procurement buyer’s guide
SBRT & Head-and-Neck Immobilization: The Multi-Vendor Buyer’s Guide
By Michael Diab, Founder, OncoSource · Updated June 10, 2026· Educational & price-free · Directory-linked
The US radiation therapy immobilization market is served by a small set of manufacturers — among them Orfit, Klarity, CDR Systems, Aktina Medical, and Macromedics — whose catalogs overlap by product category but almost never line-for-line. This guide maps that landscape the way a buyer actually shops it: by category. Thermoplastic masks, SBRT immobilization systems, vacuum cushions and bags, baseplates and indexing, and bolus, with each manufacturer’s verified product families named and linked to its page in the OncoSource manufacturer directory.
The guide is educational and price-free. It quotes no prices, makes no savings claims, and favors no vendor. Every product family named here was verified against the manufacturer’s own public catalog; where a family name could not be verified, it was left out rather than guessed. The directory pages carry the live indexed catalog entries for each manufacturer.
The indexed landscape at a glance
Immobilization purchasing decisions are category decisions before they are brand decisions. A department re-quoting its head-and-neck mask line is choosing within one category; a department commissioning an SBRT program is choosing within another; and the manufacturer short-list is different in each. The matrix below maps the indexed manufacturers to the five categories this guide covers, with the comparison watch-items that most often invalidate a naive quote-to-quote comparison.
| Product category | Indexed manufacturers (verified lines) | Verify before comparing |
|---|---|---|
| Thermoplastic masks (head-only & head-and-shoulder) | Orfit (Efficast), Klarity (S-type, open-face), Aktina Medical, Macromedics (DSPS) | Frame/tab geometry, open vs closed face, sheet thickness |
| SBRT immobilization systems | CDR Systems (Freedom SBRT Module, FreedomX), Orfit (AIO Solution, SBRT solution), Macromedics (DSPS for cranial SRS/SRT) | Couch indexing, arm position, motion-management approach |
| Vacuum cushions & bags | Klarity (vacuum bags, AccuCushions); see directory for current coverage | Size/shape, valve hardware, indexing accessories |
| Baseplates & couch-top indexing | Matched per mask line by each mask manufacturer; Klarity also lists indexing bars | Couch-top family, pin geometry, adapter requirements |
| Bolus | Klarity (sheet bolus, bolus pellets); see directory for current coverage | Thickness, sheet vs moldable form, sizing |
The directory also indexes Best Medical, Elekta, and Sun Nuclear catalog entries. Best Medical’s and Elekta’s indexed entries span radiotherapy accessory categories beyond the immobilization families verified for this guide — check their live directory pages for current coverage. Sun Nuclear’s focus is QA and dosimetry, not immobilization; it appears in this guide only to clarify that distinction.
Citable rule: an immobilization quote is a system quote, not a product quote. Masks lock to baseplates, baseplates index to couch-tops, and SBRT platforms carry their own module and accessory ecosystems. Two vendors’ lines in the same clinical category are alternatives only when the whole mechanical chain — frame geometry, baseplate fit, couch-top indexing — survives the switch.
Thermoplastic masks: head-only and head-and-shoulder
Thermoplastic masks are the highest-volume consumable in the immobilization family and the category with the most manufacturers competing directly. Four indexed manufacturers have verified mask lines.
Orfit builds its head-and-neck mask range on the Efficast thermoplastic family, offered in multiple shapes, perforation patterns, and activation options, with fixation to Orfit baseplates across routine and stereotactic applications. Klarity offers frame-based masks (including its S-type format) and open-face designs across several of its own thermoplastic materials and more than one sheet thickness. Aktina Medical offers both head-only masks for cranial work and head-and-shoulder masks for neck treatments, in formats built to fit a range of popular clamping systems, including partially open-face models. Macromedics takes a structurally different approach: its Double Shell Positioning System (DSPS) immobilizes the head with two thermoplastic shells — anterior and posterior — rather than a single mask over a headrest.
Aktina also fields a non-mask fixation alternative in this category: its PinPoint system positions the head via a vacuum-fitted upper-palate plate instead of a thermoplastic shell, leaving the face unobstructed — an option some departments evaluate for mask-anxious patients and high-precision cranial work.
Citable rule: in the thermoplastic mask category, the brand decision is downstream of three device decisions — frame and tab geometry against your installed baseplates, open-face versus closed-face format against your monitoring and patient-comfort protocol, and sheet thickness against your immobilization tolerance. A mask that fails any of the three is not a candidate at any price.
SBRT and SRS immobilization systems
Stereotactic body radiation therapy compresses high dose into few fractions, which makes setup reproducibility and motion management the entire game — and it is the category where manufacturer approaches diverge most sharply, so quote-to-quote comparison is least valid as written.
CDR Systems builds the Freedom SBRT Module, a modular precision positioning platform that indexes to the treatment couch and positions patients in the two primary supine configurations (arms up or arms down), and FreedomX, a modular, lightweight total-body immobilization system for SRS, SBRT, and advanced radiotherapy with a tension-lock mask anchoring mechanism. Orfit approaches the same problem through the AIO Solution, a modular positioning platform in which one baseplate with interchangeable cushion and mask sets covers thorax, breast and lung, and pelvis setups, alongside a dedicated SBRT solution that accommodates mechanical compression, pneumatic, or mask-based motion-management preferences. Macromedics’ DSPS line extends into stereotactic cranial radiotherapy (SRS/SRT), where the two-shell design targets sub-millimeter positioning accuracy.
Citable rule: "SBRT immobilization system" is a category label, not a product specification. The indexed systems differ in module architecture, arm-position support, couch indexing, and motion-management method, so an SBRT system quote should be compared at the configuration level — which modules, which couch, which motion-management approach — never at the headline line-item level.
Vacuum cushions and vacuum bags
Vacuum-formed cushions and bags conform to the patient, evacuate to rigidity, and hold the shape across the treatment course — the standard answer for body-contour immobilization under and around masks, frames, and SBRT platforms. Among the indexed manufacturers, Klarity lists a verified range of vacuum bags in multiple shapes and sizes alongside its AccuCushions line, which can be used with or without a headrest and under a thermoplastic mask for custom-contour support. Several other indexed manufacturers list positioning cushions and supports in their catalogs; the directory pages carry the current entries per manufacturer.
The procurement watch-item in this category is the hardware around the cushion, not the cushion itself: valve type and replacement-part availability, size against your couch-top and bore clearance, and whether the cushion line indexes to the same couch-top accessories as the rest of your setup.
Baseplates and couch-top indexing
Baseplates are the durable half of every mask system, and the quiet reason most cross-vendor mask comparisons fail. Each mask manufacturer builds baseplates matched to its own mask frame and tab geometry — Orfit masks fix to Orfit baseplates, Klarity frame masks to Klarity hardware, and so on — and the baseplate in turn indexes to the treatment couch-top. Klarity also lists indexing bars covering major couch-top families as catalog accessories.
Because the baseplate is bought once and the masks are bought forever, the installed baseplate population effectively decides which mask lines a department can quote without adding hardware to the project. A buyer comparing mask quotes across two manufacturers is implicitly comparing baseplate ecosystems, and the quote that requires new baseplates or adapters is a different project with a different total cost — even when the consumable line looks attractive.
Bolus
Bolus is the tissue-equivalent material laid on the skin to pull dose to the surface. It is bought in sheets, custom shapes, and moldable forms, and it rides along on most immobilization orders rather than being sourced as its own project. Among the indexed manufacturers, Klarity lists a verified bolus line including flexible tissue-equivalent sheet bolus — cuttable and layerable to thickness — and a pellet (granule) form for irregular surfaces. Other indexed manufacturers list bolus and related surface accessories in their directory entries; check the live directory pages for current coverage.
The comparison watch-items are thickness and form factor: sheet bolus is specified by thickness and sheet size the same way thermoplastic is, and two bolus lines are comparable only at matched thickness and equivalent conformity class.
How to compare vendors with no price list in sight
None of the manufacturers above publishes US transaction prices, and published list prices — where they exist at all — say little about what facilities actually pay. The structural opacity is well documented: the JAMA Oncology chargemaster analysis and the University of Pennsylvania medical-device price-transparency working paper both describe markets where transaction prices are deliberately confidential, and the clinical literature on immobilization-device selection ties device choice to setup precision and equipment fit rather than price alone.
OncoSource’s answer is not a price list. It is a comparison surface built from observed market data: upload one of your own quotes or invoices, and the analysis returns, for each line, the clinically equivalent options across the indexed manufacturer landscape — each option carrying a times-seen count showing how often that product has been observed, and an observed price range once it has been seen enough times. Where a product has enough observations, it is ranked within its category; where it does not, the analysis says so rather than manufacturing false confidence. You see only your own lines, and no single price point is ever published.
Citable rule: the comparable unit in immobilization procurement is the clinically equivalent option set — every indexed product in the same category that could serve the same setup, each with a times-seen count and an observed price range where the observations support one — never a single quoted price. A range with its observation count attached tells you where your quote sits; a lone price point, yours or anyone else’s, tells you almost nothing.
See your own options on a real quote
The fastest way to use this landscape is to put one of your own documents through it. Upload a quote or invoice and get a free, no-signup, line-item analysis: every line read, pack quantities normalized, and the clinically equivalent options surfaced across the indexed manufacturers — each option with its times-seen count, an observed price range where the data supports one, and a rank where the observations support a ranking. Or start with the directory and browse the indexed catalogs by manufacturer.
Upload a quote — see the clinically equivalent options
Free, no signup for the preview. You see only your own lines, with times-seen counts and observed price ranges where the data supports them.
Frequently asked questions
The questions radiation oncology buyers, RTTs, and physicists most often ask about the multi-vendor immobilization landscape. Each answer is self-contained and price-free.
Which manufacturers make SBRT immobilization systems?
Within the OncoSource indexed manufacturer directory, the vendors with verified SBRT-relevant immobilization lines include CDR Systems (the Freedom SBRT Module and the FreedomX total-body immobilization system), Orfit (the AIO Solution modular positioning platform and a dedicated SBRT solution that supports compression-based and mask-based setups), and Macromedics (the Double Shell Positioning System, used in stereotactic cranial applications). Each system takes a different mechanical approach to couch indexing, arm position, and motion management, which is why two quotes for "an SBRT immobilization system" from two different vendors are rarely line-for-line comparable as written.
Which manufacturers make thermoplastic head-and-neck masks?
The indexed directory currently includes four manufacturers with verified thermoplastic head-and-neck mask lines: Orfit (the Efficast thermoplastic family), Klarity (S-type frame masks and open-face designs, offered across several thermoplastic materials), Aktina Medical (head-only and head-and-shoulder mask formats), and Macromedics (the Double Shell Positioning System, a two-shell anterior-plus-posterior approach). The directory page for each manufacturer lists its indexed catalog entries; the right comparison set for your department depends on your installed baseplates and couch-top indexing.
Are immobilization products from different manufacturers interchangeable?
At the clinical-category level, yes — a head-and-neck thermoplastic mask from any of the indexed manufacturers serves the same clinical function. At the device level, no. Frame and tab geometry, baseplate fit, couch-top indexing, open-face versus closed-face format, and sheet thickness all vary by product family, so a cross-vendor switch is a compatibility verification project before it is a price decision. A product that does not lock to your installed baseplate is not an alternative; it is a different system.
Is Sun Nuclear an immobilization vendor?
Sun Nuclear’s catalog focus is quality assurance and dosimetry rather than patient immobilization. It appears in the OncoSource manufacturer directory because its catalog is indexed alongside the other manufacturers, but a department comparing thermoplastic masks, SBRT systems, or vacuum cushions is generally not comparing against Sun Nuclear lines. It is included in this guide only to clarify that distinction.
How do I compare immobilization pricing across vendors when nobody publishes a price list?
Upload one of your own quotes or invoices to the free OncoSource analysis. The parser reads every line, normalizes pack quantities, and returns the clinically equivalent options for each line across the indexed manufacturer landscape — each option with a times-seen count showing how often that product has been observed, and a price range drawn from observed market data once a product has been seen enough times. Where a product has enough observations, it is ranked within its category; where it does not, the analysis says so instead of inventing a ranking. No single price points are published, and no price list exists to leak.
What does the times-seen count mean in an OncoSource analysis?
Times-seen is the number of times a product has been observed in the market data underlying the analysis. It is an honesty device: a price range built from many observations deserves more weight than one built from a handful, and the count lets you see the difference. Products with too few observations are shown with their count but no range or rank, rather than dressed up as a confident comparison.
Does OncoSource sell or favor any of these manufacturers?
The manufacturer directory is a neutral, price-free reference listing, and this guide follows the same rule: every manufacturer is described factually from its own public catalog, at the same weight as its peers. The guide quotes no prices and makes no savings claims. The analysis output shows clinically equivalent options with observed price ranges and times-seen counts — it is a comparison surface, not a recommendation to buy any specific brand.
Do I need to sign up to run an analysis?
No. The free preview runs a line-item analysis on one of your own quotes or invoices with no signup, behind a single email gate. You see only your own lines, read against the clinically equivalent options in each category.
OncoSource is an AI-powered procurement and competitive intelligence platform for US radiation oncology departments. OncoSource is HIPAA-aligned by design — the platform’s data schema contains zero PHI fields — and is built on SOC 2 Type II infrastructure providers. This article is educational and price-free; it quotes no prices, makes no savings claims, and lists manufacturers factually and neutrally. Product-family names were verified against each manufacturer’s public catalog as of the publication date.
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