Tassano-Smith, Elisha;
Palmer, Antony L;
Polak, Wojciech;
Nisbet, Andrew;
(2025)
A survey and analysis of radiotherapy linear accelerator quality control (QC) in the UK, for c-arm and ring gantry systems and associated patient specific quality control (PSQC).
British Journal of Radiology
, Article tqaf140. 10.1093/bjr/tqaf140.
(In press).
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Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To conduct a survey of radiotherapy linear accelerator quality control (QC) across the United Kingdom (UK) on behalf of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) Radiotherapy Special Interest Group and Interdepartmental Dosimetry Audit Sub-committee. To update results from a similar survey published in 2012 and compare to the latest guidance from IPEM Report 81 (2018). There have been significant developments of equipment and clinical practice since the previous survey and IPEM publication, requiring an updated review and benchmark of QC practice. METHODS: All UK radiotherapy centres were invited to complete a comprehensive survey of their local QC practice, with questions on c-arm gantry, ring-gantry, linac ancillary equipment, and patient-specific quality control. RESULTS: 63% (n = 43/68) of the UK radiotherapy centres responded. IPEM Report 81 was used to inform QC practice in 91% of centres. For the majority of tests studied centres were meeting or exceeding the recommendations of this report. Standard output was still performed weekly in 26% of centres compared to monthly recommendation in Report 81. Comprehensive tables of frequency and tolerances of QC tests were collated for c-arm and ring gantry linacs and ancillary equipment. CONCLUSIONS: A comprehensive review of consensus practice for linac quality control radiotherapy across the UK is presented. Findings include the main stated reasons QC is undertaken is to "demonstrate safe use". On efficiency, it was found that about half of centres state they undertake "the right amount of QC". Half also state review of their QC process is "required". ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: Updated data are presented on current practice for linac quality control in the UK.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | A survey and analysis of radiotherapy linear accelerator quality control (QC) in the UK, for c-arm and ring gantry systems and associated patient specific quality control (PSQC) |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1093/bjr/tqaf140 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1093/bjr/tqaf140 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Institute of Radiology. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com. |
| Keywords: | UK, quality control, radiotherapy, radiotherapy physics, survey |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Med Phys and Biomedical Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10210806 |
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