Advanced Technology QA Center Our plan is to capitalize on the infrastructure and strengths of the nation's existing quality assurance (QA) programs that comprise our Advanced Technology QA Consortium (ATC), including the Image-Guided Therapy Center (ITC), Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), Radiological Physics Center (RPC), and the Quality Assurance Review Center (QARC) to maintain/develop an advanced medical informatics infrastructure that provides an environment in which institutions can submit, and QA Centers can receive, share, and analyze volumetric multimodality imaging/treatment planning/verification (ITPV) digital data. Specifically, we will (1) maintain/manage (and make incremental improvements as required to) the current electronic data submission of advanced technology (3DCRT, IMRT, SBRT, and brachytherapy) protocol credentialing and case data, archival storage, and remote QA review process utilizing ATC Method-1 (now referred to as the QuASAR-1 (Quality Assurance Submission, Analysis, and Review-1) system);(2) develop novel web-based remote-review tools that will enhance the efficient and effective review of protocols utilizing advanced technologies. The design infrastructure of these tools will assist the development of future protocol processes such as image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) and adaptive radiation therapy (ART). The proposed system is referred to as QuASAR-2 and will be modular in design to promote efficient tools and subsystems development that achieve compatibility with existing software standards, including the Cancer Bioinformatics Grid (caBIG) and DICOM RT, and maintain/develop archival ITPV, credentialing/QA databases that can be linked with the cooperative group's clinical outcomes database;(3) assist cooperative groups in the development and management of advanced technology clinical trials protocols including (a) tumor/target volume and organ at risk definitions;(b) credentialing requirements and evaluation criteria;(c) electronic data submission requirements/instructions;(d) QA review procedures;and (4) serve as an educational resource to the nation's clinical trial cooperative groups and participating institutions for support of advanced technology radiation therapy clinical trials. Our ATC QA consortium approach will help avoid duplication of service/developmental efforts and promote development of uniform credentialing/QA criteria for clinical trials throughout all Cooperative Groups.
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