The primary objective of the Radiological Physics Center (RPC) is to assure NCI and the clinical trial cooperative groups that participating institutions have adequate quality assurance (QA) procedures and no major systematic dosimetry discrepancies, so they can be expected to deliver radiation treatments that are clinically comparable to other institutions in the cooperative group. In order to accomplish this objective, the RPC monitors the basic treatment unit output and brachytherapy source strength, the dosimetry data used by the institution, the calculation algorithms used in treatment planning, and QA procedures. The methods of monitoring include on-site dosimetry review visits and various remote audit tools. During on-site reviews, key personnel are interviewed, physical measurements are made on therapy machines, dosimetry and QA data are reviewed, treatment planning algorithms are tested and patient dose calculations are evaluated. The remote audit tools include: 1) mailed TLD evaluated on a periodic basis to verify output calibration;2) comparison of dosimetry data with RPC """"""""standard"""""""" data to verify comparability of the dosimetry data;3) evaluation of reference and/or actual patient calculations to verify the treatment planning algorithms;4) review of an institution's written QA procedures and records;and 5) mailed anthropomorphic phantoms to verify tumor dose delivery for special treatment techniques. The RPC continuously modifies its techniques to reflect new protocols and changes in practice at participating institutions. The RPC currently monitors 1338 radiation therapy facilities. Any discrepancies found by the RPC are pursued to help the institution resolve them. Thus, the RPC's overall QA program impacts not only on clinical trial patients, but on the quality of all patients treated at the institution. The RPC serves as a resource in radiation dosimetry and physics to the radiotherapy community and to the cooperative gro

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Cooperative Clinical Research--Cooperative Agreements (U10)
Project #
5U10CA010953-41
Application #
7595842
Study Section
Subcommittee G - Education (NCI)
Program Officer
Deye, James
Project Start
1978-09-01
Project End
2010-12-31
Budget Start
2009-01-01
Budget End
2009-12-31
Support Year
41
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$2,487,286
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Department
Radiation-Diagnostic/Oncology
Type
Other Domestic Higher Education
DUNS #
800772139
City
Houston
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
77030
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Kry, Stephen F; Dromgoole, Lainy; Alvarez, Paola et al. (2017) Radiation Therapy Deficiencies Identified During On-Site Dosimetry Visits by the Imaging and Radiation Oncology Core Houston Quality Assurance Center. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 99:1094-1100
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Taylor, Paige A; Kry, Stephen F; Followill, David S (2017) Pencil Beam Algorithms Are Unsuitable for Proton Dose Calculations in Lung. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 99:750-756
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Taylor, Paige A; Kry, Stephen F; Alvarez, Paola et al. (2016) Results From the Imaging and Radiation Oncology Core Houston's Anthropomorphic Phantoms Used for Proton Therapy Clinical Trial Credentialing. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 95:242-8
Davidson, Scott E; Cui, Jing; Kry, Stephen et al. (2016) Modification and validation of an analytical source model for external beam radiotherapy Monte Carlo dose calculations. Med Phys 43:4842
Scarboro, Sarah B; Cody, Dianna; Alvarez, Paola et al. (2015) Characterization of the nanoDot OSLD dosimeter in CT. Med Phys 42:1797-807
Huang, Jessie Y; Kerns, James R; Nute, Jessica L et al. (2015) An evaluation of three commercially available metal artifact reduction methods for CT imaging. Phys Med Biol 60:1047-67
Grant, Ryan L; Summers, Paige A; Neihart, James L et al. (2014) Relative stopping power measurements to aid in the design of anthropomorphic phantoms for proton radiotherapy. J Appl Clin Med Phys 15:4523

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