A dosimetric intercomparison of megavoltage photon beams in UK radiotherapy centres. 1992

D I Thwaites, and J R Williams, and E G Aird, and S C Klevenhagen, and P C Williams
Department of Medical Physics and Medical Engineering, University of Edinburg, UK.

A dosimetry intercomparison has been carried out for all 64 radiotherapy centres in the UK. Doses were measured with an ionization chamber in an epoxy resin water-substitute phantom of relatively simple geometry. Reference-point measurements were made for all MV photon beams. For 61 Co-60 beams, a mean ratio of measured-to-stated dose of 1.002 was observed with a standard deviation of 0.014, whilst for 100 MV x-ray beams, the corresponding figures were 1.003 and 0.015. 97% of beams lay within a +/- 3% deviation. One measurement was instrumental in discovering a large discrepancy. Doses were also investigated in two planned three-field distributions at one beam quality in each centre. One of these was in a homogeneous phantom, whilst the second included a lung-equivalent insert. Doses were measured at the central point and at four other points in the high dose volume. In both situations, the mean ratio of measured-to-calculated doses for all points was 1.008, with standard deviations of 0.027 and 0.035 for the uniform and non-uniform phantoms, respectively. Discrepancies over 5% were followed up. The work must be viewed in the context of other international intercomparisons and is an essential part of wider radiotherapy audit processes.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008961 Models, Structural A representation, generally small in scale, to show the structure, construction, or appearance of something. (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed) Model, Structural,Structural Model,Structural Models
D011785 Quality Assurance, Health Care Activities and programs intended to assure or improve the quality of care in either a defined medical setting or a program. The concept includes the assessment or evaluation of the quality of care; identification of problems or shortcomings in the delivery of care; designing activities to overcome these deficiencies; and follow-up monitoring to ensure effectiveness of corrective steps. Quality Assessment, Health Care,Health Care Quality Assessment,Health Care Quality Assurance,Healthcare Quality Assessment,Healthcare Quality Assurance,Quality Assessment, Healthcare,Quality Assurance, Healthcare,Assessment, Healthcare Quality,Assessments, Healthcare Quality,Assurance, Healthcare Quality,Assurances, Healthcare Quality,Healthcare Quality Assessments,Healthcare Quality Assurances,Quality Assessments, Healthcare,Quality Assurances, Healthcare
D011879 Radiotherapy Dosage The total amount of radiation absorbed by tissues as a result of radiotherapy. Dosage, Radiotherapy,Dosages, Radiotherapy,Radiotherapy Dosages
D011882 Radiotherapy, High-Energy Radiotherapy using high-energy (megavolt or higher) ionizing radiation. Types of radiation include gamma rays, produced by a radioisotope within a teletherapy unit; x-rays, electrons, protons, alpha particles (helium ions) and heavy charged ions, produced by particle acceleration; and neutrons and pi-mesons (pions), produced as secondary particles following bombardment of a target with a primary particle. Megavolt Radiotherapy,High-Energy Radiotherapy,Radiotherapy, Megavolt,High Energy Radiotherapy,Radiotherapy, High Energy
D006113 United Kingdom Country in northwestern Europe including Great Britain and the northern one-sixth of the island of Ireland, located between the North Sea and north Atlantic Ocean. The capital is London. Great Britain,Isle of Man
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man

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