BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To compare the pre-treatment brachytherapy plan verification by a physicist assisted by custom plan verification software (SAV) with those performed manually (MV). MATERIALS AND METHODS: All HDR brachytherapy plans used for treatment in 2013, verified using either SAV or MV, were retrospectively reviewed. Error rate (number of errors/number of plans) was measured and verification time calculated. All HDR brachytherapy safety events recorded between 2010 and 2013 were identified. The rate of patient-related safety events (number of events/number of fractions treated) and the impact of SAV on the underlying errors were assessed. RESULTS: Three/106 errors (2.8%) were found in the SAV group and 24/273 (8.8%) in the MV group (p=0.046). The mean ±1 standard deviation plan verification time was 8.4±4.0min for SAV and 11.6±5.3 for MV (p=0.006). Seven safety events out of 4729 fractions delivered (0.15%) were identified. Four events (57%) were associated with plan verification and could have been detected by SAV. CONCLUSIONS: We found a safety event rate in HDR brachytherapy of 0.15%. SAV significantly reduced the number of undetected errors in HDR treatment plans compared to MV, and reduced the time required for plan verification.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To compare the pre-treatment brachytherapy plan verification by a physicist assisted by custom plan verification software (SAV) with those performed manually (MV). MATERIALS AND METHODS: All HDR brachytherapy plans used for treatment in 2013, verified using either SAV or MV, were retrospectively reviewed. Error rate (number of errors/number of plans) was measured and verification time calculated. All HDR brachytherapy safety events recorded between 2010 and 2013 were identified. The rate of patient-related safety events (number of events/number of fractions treated) and the impact of SAV on the underlying errors were assessed. RESULTS: Three/106 errors (2.8%) were found in the SAV group and 24/273 (8.8%) in the MV group (p=0.046). The mean ±1 standard deviation plan verification time was 8.4±4.0min for SAV and 11.6±5.3 for MV (p=0.006). Seven safety events out of 4729 fractions delivered (0.15%) were identified. Four events (57%) were associated with plan verification and could have been detected by SAV. CONCLUSIONS: We found a safety event rate in HDR brachytherapy of 0.15%. SAV significantly reduced the number of undetected errors in HDR treatment plans compared to MV, and reduced the time required for plan verification.
Authors: Antonio L Damato; Larissa J Lee; Mandar S Bhagwat; Ivan Buzurovic; Robert A Cormack; Susan Finucane; Jorgen L Hansen; Desmond A O'Farrell; Alecia Offiong; Una Randall; Scott Friesen; Akila N Viswanathan Journal: Brachytherapy Date: 2015-01-06 Impact factor: 2.362
Authors: David Aramburu Nunez; Michael Trager; Joel Beaudry; Gilad N Cohen; Lawrence T Dauer; Daniel Gorovets; Nima Hassan Rezaeian; Marisa A Kollmeier; Brian Leong; Patrick McCann; Matthew Williamson; Michael J Zelefsky; Antonio L Damato Journal: Brachytherapy Date: 2021-06-27 Impact factor: 2.441
Authors: Ivan M Buzurovic; Desmond A O'Farrell; Mandar S Bhagwat; Jorgen L Hansen; Thomas C Harris; Scott Friesen; Robert A Cormack; Phillip M Devlin Journal: J Contemp Brachytherapy Date: 2017-06-13