Early detection of potential errors during patient treatment planning.

Purpose: Data errors caught late in treatment planning require time to correct, resulting in delays up to 1 week. In this work, we identify causes of data errors in treatment planning and develop a software tool that detects them early in the planning workflow.

Methods: Two categories of errors were studied: data transfer errors and TPS errors.

Recent Time Trends and Predictors of Heart Dose From Breast Radiation Therapy in a Large Quality Consortium of Radiation Oncology Practices.

Purpose: Limited data exist regarding the range of heart doses received in routine practice with radiation therapy (RT) for breast cancer in the United States today and the potential effect of the continual assessment of the cardiac dose on practice patterns.

Methods And Materials: From 2012 to 2015, 4688 patients with breast cancer treated with whole breast RT at 20 sites participating in a state-wide consortium were enrolled into a registry. The importance of limiting the cardiac dose has been emphasized in the consortium since 2012, and the mean heart dose (MHD) has been reported by each institution since 2014.

Development of a model web-based system to support a statewide quality consortium in radiation oncology.

Purpose: A database in which patient data are compiled allows analytic opportunities for continuous improvements in treatment quality and comparative effectiveness research. We describe the development of a novel, web-based system that supports the collection of complex radiation treatment planning information from centers that use diverse techniques, software, and hardware for radiation oncology care in a statewide quality collaborative, the Michigan Radiation Oncology Quality Consortium (MROQC).

Methods And Materials: The MROQC database seeks to enable assessment of physician- and patient-reported outcomes and quality improvement as a function of treatment planning and delivery techniques for breast and lung cancer patients.

A three-field monoisocentric inverse breast treatment planning technique without half-beam blocking.

The purpose of this study was to introduce a three-field monoisocentric inverse treatment planning method without half-beam blocks for breast cancer radiation treatments. Three-field monoisocentric breast treatment planning with half-beam blocks limits the tangential field length to 20 cm. A dual-isocenter approach accommodates patients with larger breasts, but prolongs treatment time and may introduce dose uncertainty at the matching plane due to daily setup variations.