Verification and recording of radiotherapy treatments using a small computer

Abstract

A small computer has been interfaced to a linear accelerator used for routine radiotherapy. The objectives are to assess the rate and magnitude of some of the mistakes which may occur, to prevent these where possible and to assist radiographers with record keeping. In this paper we describe our approach to the problem, the apparatus used, the computer program, and the results of several years of operating experience while the system was continually being developed. On one linear accelerator, we estimate that an error has been prevented roughly once in every 500 field parameters set. The most common error is in setting the diaphragms and a detailed analysis is given of possible reasons. Doses in monitor units are recorded automatically and a running total of cumulative dose is maintained; plans for the printing of the dose in rads at selected points are discussed.

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“…R/V systems were developed to reduce the frequency of these common random treatment errors (3)(4)(5)(6). Treatment error rates with R/V were reported to range from 0.5% to 3% per session (3,5,7). The R/V system must know patient, plan, and field parameters, so this information must be entered and called up correctly each treatment.…”

Anniversary Paper: Roles of medical physicists and health care applications of informatics

“…The first issue was related to quality assurance needs, in particular, the need to record and verify the delivery of radiation treatment. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Early record and verify systems were designed to simply confirm radiation therapy machine parameters that had been manually set and validate the consistency of these parameters. If treatment was terminated unexpectedly, these systems could store data relevant to partial treatment received, thus enabling therapists to resume and complete the interrupted treatment.…”

An Investigation of Radiation Treatment Learning Opportunities in Relation to the Radiation Oncology Electronic Medical Record: A Single Institution Experience

“…A record and verify system (RVS) can be defined as computer software used in the radiation oncology environment to store and verify treatment plan parameters against delivery parameters, as well as to record a history of treatment delivery parameters used for each treatment. Some of the earliest literature on the RVS for radiation treatments appeared in the late 70s and early 80s 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 and described the initial design and progress of the RVS. The recent and significant advancements of technology in radiation oncology have given us the ability to deliver more sophisticated treatments.…”