Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Workflow and Quality Assurance in Altered Fractionation

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Alternate Fractionation in Radiotherapy

Part of the book series: Medical Radiology ((Med Radiol Radiat Oncol))

  • 624 Accesses

Abstract

There are significant differences between courses of “altered fractionation” and those using conventional fractionation, and some of these differences can affect the type of quality assurance (QA) performed and the schedule on which it is performed. Altered fractionation has been defined elsewhere in this book and won’t be redefined here; suffice it to say that from a quality assurance perspective, changes in fractionation scheme should have no effect on the importance of quality assurance, or on the timeliness.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acharya S, Fischer-Valuck BW, Kashani R et al (2016) Online magnetic resonance image guided adaptive radiation therapy: first clinical applications. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 94:394–403

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baldock C, De Deene Y, Doran S et al (2010) Polymer gel dosimetry. Phys Med Biol 55:R1–R63

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Balter P, Stovall M, Hanson WF (1999) An anthropomorphic head phantom for remote monitoring of stereotactic radiosurgery at multiple institutions. Med Phys 26:1164

    Google Scholar 

  • Bayouth JE (2008) Siemens multileaf collimator characterization and quality assurance approaches for intensity-modulated radiotherapy. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 71:S93–S97

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bol GH, Hissoiny S, Lagendijk JJ et al (2012) Fast online Monte Carlo-based IMRT planning for the MRI linear accelerator. Phys Med Biol 57:1375–1385

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Childress N, Chen Q, Rong Y (2015) Parallel/opposed: IMRT QA using treatment log files is superior to conventional measurement-based method. J Appl Clin Med Phys 16:5385

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chung HT, Lee B, Park E et al (2008) Can all centers plan intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) effectively? An external audit of dosimetric comparisons between three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy and IMRT for adjuvant chemoradiation for gastric cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 71:1167–1174

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Crevoisier R, Tucker SL, Dong L et al (2005) Increased risk of biochemical and local failure in patients with distended rectum on the planning CT for prostate cancer radiotherapy. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 62:965–973

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dennis K, Linden K, Balboni T et al (2015) Rapid access palliative radiation therapy programs: an efficient model of care. Future Oncol 11(17):2417–2426

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Driver DM, Drzymala M, Dobbs HJ et al (2004) Virtual simulation in palliative lung radiotherapy. Clin Oncol 16(7):461–466

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ezzell GA, Galvin JM, Low D et al (2003) Guidance document on delivery, treatment planning, and clinical implementation of IMRT: report of the IMRT Subcommittee of the AAPM Radiation Therapy Committee. Med Phys 30:2089–2115

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ezzell GA, Burmeister JW, Dogan N et al (2009) IMRT commissioning: multiple institution planning and dosimetry comparisons, a report from AAPM Task Group 119. Med Phys 36(11):5359–5373

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Followill D, Evans DR, Cherry C et al (2007) Design, development, and implementation of the Radiological Physics Center’s pelvis and thorax anthropomorphic quality assurance phantoms. Med Phys 34:2070–2076

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ford A, Bydder S, Ebert MA (2011) The use of On-Board Imaging to plan and deliver palliative radiotherapy in a single cohesive patient appointment. J Med Imaging Radiat Oncol 55(6):633–638

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Galvin JM, Ezzell G, Eisbrauch A et al (2004) Implementing IMRT in clinical practice: a joint document of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 58:1616–1634

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haddad P, Cheung F, Pond G et al (2006) Computerized tomographic simulation compared with clinical mark-up in palliative radiotherapy: a prospective study. Radiat Oncol Biol 65(3):824–829

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Handsfield LL, Jones R, Wilson DD et al (2014) Phantomless patient-specific TomoTherapy QA via delivery performance monitoring and a secondary Monte Carlo dose calculation. Med Phys 41:101703

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hartford AC, Galvin JM, Beyer DC, et al; American College of Radiology; American Society for Radiation Oncology. (2012) American College of Radiology (ACR) and American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) practice guideline for intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Am J Clin Oncol 35:612–617

    Google Scholar 

  • Haslam JJ, Bonta DV, Lujan AE et al (2003) Comparison of dose calculated by an intensity modulated radiotherapy treatment planning system and an independent monitor unit verification program. J Appl Clin Med Phys 4:224–230

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • U.A. van der Heide (2016) MR-guided radiation therapy. Phys Med Eur J Med Phys 32:175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Houweling AC, de Vries JH, Wolthaus J et al (2016) Performance of a cylindrical diode array for use in a 1.5 T MR-linac. Phys Med Biol 61:N80–N89

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huq MS, Fraass BA, Dunscombe PB et al (2016) The report of Task Group 100 of the AAPM: application of risk analysis methods to radiation therapy quality management. Med Phys 43:4209

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • IAEA (2008) Setting up a radiotherapy programme. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Ibbott GS, Maryanski MJ, Eastman P et al (1997) Three-dimensional visualization and measurement of conformal dose distributions using magnetic resonance imaging of BANG polymer gel dosimeters. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 38:1097–1103

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ibbott GS, Molineu A, Followill DS (2006) Independent evaluations of IMRT through the use of an anthropomorphic phantom. Technol Cancer Res Treat 5:481–487

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ibbott GS, Followill DS, Molineu HA et al (2008) Challenges in credentialing institutions and participants in advanced technology multi-institutional clinical trials. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 71:S71–S75

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Jones RT, Handsfield L, Read PW, Wilson DD et al (2015) Safety and feasibility of STAT RAD: improvement of a novel rapid tomotherapy-based radiation therapy workflow by failure mode and effects analysis. Pract Radiat Oncol 5:106–112

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klein EE, Hanley J, Bayouth J, Yin FF et al (2009) Task Group 142 report: quality assurance of medical accelerators. Med Phys 36:4197–4212

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kutcher GJ, Coia L, Gillin M et al (1994) Comprehensive QA for radiation oncology: report of AAPM Radiation Therapy Committee Task Group 40. Med Phys 21:581–618

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lagendijk JJ, Raaymakers BW, Van den Berg CA et al (2014) MR guidance in radiotherapy. Phys Med Biol 59:R349–R369

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lee HJ, Alqathami M, Kadbi M et al (2016) Novel iron-based radiation reporting systems as 4D dosimeters for MR-guided radiation therapy. Med Phys 43:3874

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Létourneau D, Wong R, Moseley D et al (2007) Online planning and delivery technique for radiotherapy of spinal metastases using cone-beam CT: image quality and system performance. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 67(4):1229–1237

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Li HH, Rodriguez VL, Green OL et al (2015) Patient-specific quality assurance for the delivery of (60)Co intensity modulated radiation therapy subject to a 0.35-T lateral magnetic field. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 91:65–72

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ling CC, Zhang P, Archambault Y et al (2008) Commissioning and quality assurance of RapidArc radiotherapy delivery system. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 72:575–581

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu C, Simon TA, Fox C et al (2008) Multileaf collimator characteristics and reliability requirements for IMRT Elekta system. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 71:S89–S92

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Losasso T (2008) IMRT delivery performance with a varian multileaf collimator. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 71:S85–S88

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Low DA, Dempsey JF (2003) Evaluation of the gamma dose distribution comparison method. Med Phys 30:2455–2464

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maryanski MJ, Ibbott GS, Eastman P et al (1996) Radiation therapy dosimetry using magnetic resonance imaging of polymer gels. Med Phys 23:699–705

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald DG, Jacqmin DJ, Mart CJ et al (2017) Validation of a modern second-check dosimetry system using a novel verification phantom. J Appl Clin Med Phys 18:170–177

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Molineu A, Followill DS, Balter PA et al (2005) Design and implementation of an anthropomorphic quality assurance phantom for intensity-modulated radiation therapy for the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 63:577–583

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Molineu A, Hernandez N, Nguyen T et al (2013) Credentialing results from IMRT irradiations of an anthropomorphic head and neck phantom. Med Phys 40:022101

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Moran JM, Dempsey M, Eisbruch A, Fraass BA et al (2011) Safety considerations for IMRT: executive summary. Pract Radiat Oncol 1:190–195

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Nelms BE, Zhen H, Tome WA (2011) Per-beam, planar IMRT QA passing rates do not predict clinically relevant patient dose errors. Med Phys 38:1037–1044

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien DJ, Sawakuchi G (2017) Monte Carlo study of the chamber-phantom air gap effect in a magnetic field. Med Phys 44:3830–3838

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien DJ, Hackett SL, van Asselen B et al (2015) Small air-gaps affect the response of ionization chambers in the presence of a 1.5 T magnetic field. Med Phys 42:3724–3724

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pawlicki T, Scanderbeg DJ, Starkschall G (2016) Hendee’s radiation therapy physics, 4th edn. Wiley, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rangaraj D, Zhu M, Yang D et al (2013) Catching errors with patient-specific pretreatment machine log file analysis. Pract Radiat Oncol 3:80–90

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rankine LJ, Mein S, Cai B et al (2017) Three-dimensional dosimetric validation of a magnetic resonance guided intensity modulated radiation therapy system. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 97(5):1095–1104

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roed Y, Kadbi M, Wang J et al (2016) Real-time imaging of 3-dimensional dose distributions with polymer gels using a magnetic resonance-guided linear accelerator. Radiat Oncol Biol 96(2):E633

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samant R, Gerig L, Montgomery L et al (2008) High-technology palliative radiotherapy using image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy. Clin Oncol 20(9):718–720

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Samant R, Gerig L, Montgomery L et al (2009) The emerging role of IG-IMRT for palliative radiotherapy: a single-institution experience. Curr Oncol 16(3):40–45

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • van de Schoot A, de Boer P, Visser J et al (2017) Dosimetric advantages of a clinical daily adaptive plan selection strategy compared with a non-adaptive strategy in cervical cancer radiation therapy. Acta Oncol 56:667–674

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Siochi RA, Molineu A, Orton CG (2013) Point/counterpoint: patient-specific QA for IMRT should be performed using software rather than hardware methods. Med Phys 40:070601

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stell AM, Li JG, Zeidan OA et al (2004) An extensive log-file analysis of step-and-shoot intensity modulated radiation therapy segment delivery errors. Med Phys 31:1593–1602

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wong RKS, Létourneau D, Varma A et al (2012) A one-step cone-beam CT-enabled planning-to-treatment model for palliative radiotherapy-from development to implementation. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 84(3):834–840

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Physics, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1400 Pressler St., Unit 1420, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Geoffrey S. Ibbott Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Geoffrey S. Ibbott Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Geoffrey S. Ibbott Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Allegheny General Hospital Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute, Drexel University College of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Mark Trombetta

  2. Radiation Oncology Department, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Jean-Philippe Pignol

  3. Allegheny Health Network, Temple University School of Medicine, Pittsburgh Campus, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Paolo Montemaggi

  4. Hylda Cohn/American Cancer Society, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Luther W. Brady

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ibbott, G.S. (2017). Workflow and Quality Assurance in Altered Fractionation. In: Trombetta, M., Pignol, JP., Montemaggi, P., Brady, L.W. (eds) Alternate Fractionation in Radiotherapy. Medical Radiology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/174_2017_94

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/174_2017_94

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51197-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51198-6

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation