Postal and clinical trial dosimetry

The accurate planning and treatment of radiotherapy patients in accordance with a treatment protocol has been shown to impact treatment outcome and patient’s survival [1]. External audits of treatment plan quality and dosimetric accuracy are therefore very important tools in radiotherapy. Multicenter audits are used by radiotherapy centers and auditing institutions to provide valuable information on the accuracy and reliability of radiotherapy treatment-planning and delivery systems and processes. Audit results can be used by audited centers to validate or improve their systems and processes. This is especially important in centers where new treatment techniques are being introduced, and staff are unfamiliar with new processes [2]. The value of audits in the radiotherapy treatment quality-improvement process is indicated by the improvements in treatment-delivery accuracy that have been observed when centers are audited more than once [3-6].