Pilot study on radiotherapy quality control and quality assurance in Zhejiang province

Objective: To evaluate the methods of carrying out radiotherapy quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) in the whole province. Methods: From 1995, radiotherapy quality control center of Zhejiang province (the guiding team consists of specialists in radiation oncology of the province) has carried out a QC and QA program including evaluation of administration, departmental infrastructure, equipment, staff and treatment for 28 centers in the whole province. The regulation and scoring system were designed and first informed to every center, with the 28 centers checked and examined by the guiding team from 1999 to 2000. Results: Great variations in equipment and staff were observed among participating centers. Equipment condition was not very satisfactory. Most of the treatment protocols were reasonable except that the indication for radiotherapy was not strict enough in some centers. Conclusions: It is feasible for the radiotherapy quality control center to check and examine the department of radiation oncology in the whole province. Good QC and QA is invaluable to standardize the treatment protocol and ensure the radiotherapy quality and also helpful to carry out multi-center study in the future