The IAEA DIrectory of RAdiotherapy Centres (DIRAC): Current Figures and New Developments
P Kazantsev, M Carrara, E Titovich, Y Pynda, D van der Merwe, International Atomic Energy Agency, AUSTRIA
Presentations
PO-GePV-M-12 (Sunday, 7/25/2021) [Eastern Time (GMT-4)]
Purpose: IAEA has maintained DIRAC since 1959. Nowadays, it is the only high-quality source of information on worldwide radiotherapy (RT) infrastructure and is publicly accessible on the web at //dirac.iaea.org. The web portal allows data input by contributors and visualization of hospital, national and regional data using modern business intelligence tools.
Methods: DIRAC is continuously updated by individuals and national focal points, and the updates are verified by the IAEA data curation team. Part of the DIRAC information is publicly available on the website, but more detailed analyses are provided upon request for non-commercial use only. Each request for information is processed individually.A major update of DIRAC data structure has been deployed recently. In addition, the website has been updated to include a tool to quantify the bibliometric impact of DIRAC.
Results: To date, DIRAC records include over 7900 RT centres equipped with over 17600 RT units. Of those, 14258 are external beam units, 3319 brachytherapy units (including electronic BT) and 105 light ion facilities (as of 2021.02.22). Over the last 20 years, 140 peer-reviewed publications directly referred to DIRAC, and over 2300 articles cited these papers.DIRAC structure was expanded to include details of collimation, imaging and motion management systems of RT treatment units, specific features and algorithms of treatment planning systems for both tele- and brachytherapy, conventional CT scanners and simulators. Additionally, data collection and representation structure for light ion therapy facilities has been revised.
Conclusion: DIRAC supports academic and health care research, particularly in the analysis of national, regional and global availability of RT infrastructure. Developments in the DIRAC structure and its web-based interface are expanding with advances in RT technology, techniques, process and services.
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