Commissioning of Radiotherapy Treatment Planning Systems: Testing for Typical External Beam Treatment Techniques : Report of the Coordinated Research Project on Development of Procedures for Quality Assurance of Dosimetry Calculations in Radiotherapy

This publication is intended as a guide for the clinical commissioning of radiotherapy treatment planning systems (RTPSs) and provides a simple protocol for these tasks. The procedures for clinical commissioning tests cover typical treatment techniques used in radiotherapy hospitals and are based on the use of a specific phantom. The purpose of this testing is twofold. Firstly, the tests will provide an educational opportunity for the user to become familiar with the operation of the RTPS. Secondly, the tests will demonstrate to the user that the logistic chain starting from computed tomography (CT) scanning, anatomic modelling, treatment planning and monitor unit/ time (MU) calculation is operable for typical treatment techniques and leads to the desired results with sufficient accuracy.