Standardization and Automation of Quality Assurance Utilizing a Commercial Platform
Abstract
Purpose
The goal of this project is to standardize and automate the QA program of a multi-location radiation oncology practice. Our practice includes eleven linear accelerators, five CT scanners, and four HDR afterloaders, across four separate treatment centers.
Methods
A commercial platform (Radmachine, Radformation, New York, NY) was selected for implementation. Within this platform, each QA task that is performed was translated into a “Test List,” which is the vendor-specific analysis routine for that specific QA task. Each test list is then assigned to different treatment machines, which standardizes practice across our program. Using a scripting server, custom-developed scripts were created to automatically relocate QA files as they are acquired into a directory that is monitored by the Radformation Agent. When each of these directories detects a new image, the image is uploaded to Radmachine, automatically processed, then placed into the review queue.
Results
Images and other file types for various QA tasks have been migrated to the commercial platform over the past three years. The entire QA program for our site has been transitioned into this commercial platform. Images and scan data from the linear accelerators, and CT sets from the CT scanners, have been transitioned into the automated analysis system. Over 1,100 test lists (each corresponding to a specific QA task) have been implemented. In addition to the automated analyses, simple QA checks have been implemented to standardize the QA platform across our multicenter practice.
Conclusion
Standardization is a key component for maintaining a large QA practice in compliance with current recommendations and guidelines. Our automated QA analysis program improves our group’s efficiency, allowing the physicist to monitor more machine characteristics and concentrate on other tasks.