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Topics in QA

B Yi1*, P Balter2*, B Zhang3*, A Olch4*, P Greer5*, B Mijnheer6*, K Padgett7*, (1) University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, (2) UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, (3) University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, (4) Children's Hospital of LA, Los Angeles, CA, (5) Calvary Mater Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, AU, (6) Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, NL, (7) University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL

Presentations

MO-C-Therapy Room-0 (Monday, 4/19/2021) 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM [Eastern Time (GMT-4)]

Radiation Oncology Information System (ROIS) plays a pivotal role in modern radiation therapy. Despite this, the role of medical physicists for QA and upgrades of the ROIS is often not appreciated. The upgrade procedure is also often relegated to the IT group, but omission of the medical physicist is problematic. This presentation emphasizes which QA items should be performed and how to perform them, clarifies the role of medical physicists, and shares multiple institutions’ experiences.

Learning Objectives:
1. To learn the importance and necessity of QA in ROIS upgrades.
2. How to design a ROIS QA program for an institution.
3. To discuss experience and lessons learned.

Historically EPIDs have been utilized mainly for verification of patient positioning by generating radiographs of the patient just prior to or during treatment delivery. But, EPIDs can also be utilized in a variety of different ways as radiation dosimeters, including linear accelerator QA, pre-treatment patient QA and the estimation of dose in a patient as an in vivo dosimeter. With the introduction of current aSi flat-panel EPID technology, the use of EPIDs for dosimetric measurements has matured, and they are now routinely utilized for pre-treatment QA and transit (in vivo) dosimetry measurements in an increasing number of clinics. Commercial EPID dosimetry software products are available from several vendors, including linear accelerator manufacturers. However, there are currently no specific guidelines for clinical physicists on the potential and limitations and correct utilization of EPID dosimetry, as well as the clinical implementation of EPIDs as a patient-specific QA tool (both pre-treatment and in vivo dosimetry). AAPM has created Task Group 307, which is charged with providing a resource for medical physicists who will commission and implement EPID-based patient-specific tools. The work of the TG is currently underway. Our presentation will discuss some of the information to be included in the report, including modeling and algorithms, clinical experience with EPID-based pre-treatment and in vivo dosimetry techniques, and limitations and challenges in clinical implementation of EPIDS. The topic areas where recommendations will be made in the final report will be discussed, but specific recommendations will not since they have not yet been reviewed or approved by AAPM.

Learning Objectives:
1. Review EIPD-based QA potential, limitations and utilizations in the clinic.
2. Discuss commissioning and implementation of EPID-based QA.
3. Review areas of recommendations to the medical physicist for clinical use of EIPDs.

Keywords

Quality Assurance, Electronic Portal Imaging

Taxonomy

TH- External Beam- Photons: Quality Assurance - Linear accelerator

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