Prescribing, recording, and reporting photon beam therapy

When treating a patient with radiotherapy, the radiation oncologist normally prescribes doses to both the malignant disease and to relevant normal tissues. The therapist also records doses delivered during treatment within various volumes or at various points in the tissues for the purpose of documentation. Doses will also have to be specified for the purpose of reporting. The recommendations in this report are intended to be applicable to most clinical situations, past or present, and to most radiotherapy centers. This report is an update of the recommendations given in 1978, and this is the purpose of the report. It largely repeats the previous recommendations, but some definitions and recommendations have been clarified or modified (e.g., definitions on volume, and general principles for target dose specification). The recommendations apply to reporting but they are useful in all steps of the radiotherapy procedure. It is hoped that they will be adopted in day-to-day practice