Quality Assurance of Dose-Escalated Radiation Therapy in a Randomized Trial for Locally Advanced Oesophageal cancer
Résumé
clinical target volume craniocaudal margins and dose constraints to the heart. More plans were accepted when intensity modulated radiation therapy was performed. respected in the majority of cases except for the heart, where one-third of the plans presented a deviation. As for the target volume, 3 plans (5.8%) had a major underdosage and 1 plan (1.9%) had a major overdosage. Overall, 58% of all treatments were planned with intensity modulated radiation therapy, whereas 42% were planned with 3-dimensional chemoradiation therapy. Significantly more plans in the intensity modulated radiation therapy group were accepted compared with the 3-dimensional chemoradiation therapy group (P Z .03). Conclusion: The high frequency of protocol deviations underlines the importance of a quality assurance program in clinical trials. Further work should assess the impact of quality assurance for radiation therapy on patient outcomes.