Radiation Oncology in Minnesota

Quality Assurance

The Division of Radiation Oncology ensures that patients receive accurate and appropriate treatment by undertaking quality assurance procedures.

Chart rounds — each week, the staff meets to review the treatment beams and plans of patients who started treatment the prior week. Physicians present the cases and their recommendations for peer review.

Plan checks — before a treatment course begins, a physicist checks the accuracy of dose calculations and the details of the setup instructions.

Chart checks — each week, a physicist reviews the chart of every patient under treatment for continued agreement with the treatment plan.

Treatment machine checks — each morning technicians measure the radiation output from the linear accelerators for consistency. Physicists use additional equipment at monthly and annual intervals to maintain the calibrations.

Patient dose measurements — specialists measure the radiation dose applied to individual patients to verify the calculations.

Beam films — before treatment begins and at least weekly thereafter, films are taken with the treatment beams to verify the continued accuracy of the dose delivered.

Verification computer system — for each beam at every treatment, a dedicated computer system compares the therapist's settings to the original plan.