Factors influencing access to palliative radiotherapy: a Norwegian population-based study.

Background: Palliative radiotherapy (PRT) comprises half of all radiotherapy use and is an effective and important treatment modality for improving quality of life in incurable cancer patients. We have described the use of PRT in Norway and aimed to identify and quantify the impact of factors associated with PRT utilization.

Material And Methods: Population-based data from the Cancer Registry of Norway identified 25,281 patients who died of cancer, 1 July 2009-31 December 2011.

Radiotherapy equipment and departments in the European countries: final results from the ESTRO-HERO survey.

Background: Documenting the distribution of radiotherapy departments and the availability of radiotherapy equipment in the European countries is an important part of HERO - the ESTRO Health Economics in Radiation Oncology project. HERO has the overall aim to develop a knowledge base of the provision of radiotherapy in Europe and build a model for health economic evaluation of radiation treatments at the European level. The aim of the current report is to describe the distribution of radiotherapy equipment in European countries.

Radiotherapy staffing in the European countries: final results from the ESTRO-HERO survey.

Background: The ESTRO Health Economics in Radiation Oncology (HERO) project has the overall aim to develop a knowledge base of the provision of radiotherapy in Europe and build a model for health economic evaluation of radiation treatments at the European level. The first milestone was to assess the availability of radiotherapy resources within Europe. This paper presents the personnel data collected in the ESTRO HERO database.

Guidelines for equipment and staffing of radiotherapy facilities in the European countries: final results of the ESTRO-HERO survey.

Background And Purpose: In planning to meet evidence based needs for radiotherapy, guidelines for the provision of capital and human resources are central if access, quality and safety are not to be compromised. A component of the ESTRO-HERO (Health Economics in Radiation Oncology) project is to document the current availability and content of guidelines for radiotherapy in Europe.

Materials And Methods: An 84 part questionnaire was distributed to the European countries through their national scientific and professional radiotherapy societies with 30 items relating to the availability of guidelines for equipment and staffing and selected operational issues.

Utilization of radiation therapy in Norway after the implementation of the national cancer plan--a national, population-based study.

Purpose: To estimate actual utilization rates of radiation therapy (RT) in Norway, describe time trends (1997-2010), and compare these estimates with corresponding optimal RT rates.

Methods And Materials: Data from the population-based Cancer Registry of Norway was used to identify all patients diagnosed with cancer and/or treated by RT for cancer in 1997-2010. Radiation therapy utilization rates (RURs) were calculated as (1) the proportion of incident cancer cases who received RT at least once within 1 year of diagnosis (RUR1Y); and (2) the proportion who received RT within 5 years of diagnosis (RUR5Y).