Quality Control and Dosimetry

The accurate delivery of the correct radiation dose is of vital importance in radiotherapy; too small a dose and cancerous cells may survive, too large and healthy organs may be damaged. One is not able to buy a meter “off the shelf” for radiotherapy, instead dosimeters must be accurately calibrated in-house in each treatment beam in use, in collaboration with the National Physical Laboratory. Radiotherapy equipment is highly complex and a comprehensive schedule of quality control and dosimetry checks is undertaken to ensure high quality treatment is delivered.

“Quality control” protocols for radiotherapy equipment are part of the quality assurance program. The term ‘quality control’ is defined as a regulatory process through which the actual performance of equipment is measured and compared with existing standards or reference values, together with the actions necessary to be taken in order to keep or regain conformity with these standards. The question of what constitutes acceptable quality may be guided by national or international standards, or may be left to the professional judgment of the senior physics staff involved.

Beam Flatness & Symmetry Measurements

Chamber measurements