Study of quality assurance regulations for linear accelerators in Korea: A comparison study between the current status in Korea and the international guidelines

摘要

Quality assurance (QA) for medical linear accelerators is indispensable forappropriate cancer treatment. Some international organizations and westernadvanced countries provide QA guidelines for linear accelerators. Currently, QAregulations for linear accelerators in Korean hospitals specify a system inwhich each hospital stipulates its independent hospital-based protocols for QAprocedures (HP_QAPs) and conducts QA based on these HP_QAPs while regulatoryauthorities verify whether items under these HP_QAPs have been performed.However, because this regulatory method cannot guarantee the quality ofuniversal treatment, and QA items with tolerance criteria are different in manyhospitals, the presentation of standardized QA items and tolerance criteria isessential. In this study, QA items in HP_QAPs from various hospitals and thosepresented by international organizations. Concordance rates between QA itemsfor linear accelerators that were presented by the aforementioned organizationsand those currently being implemented in Korean hospitals were shown to exhibita daily QA of 50%, a weekly QA of 22%, a monthly QA of 43%, and an annual QA of65%, and the overall concordance rates of all QA items were approximately 48%.In comparison between QA items being implemented in Korean hospitals and thosebeing implemented in western advanced countries, concordance rates were shownto exhibit a daily QA of 50%, a weekly QA of 33%, a monthly QA of 60%, and anannual QA of 67%, and the overall concordance rate of all QA items wereapproximately 57%. The results of this study indicate that the HP_QAPscurrently implemented by Korean hospitals as QA standards for linearaccelerators used in radiation therapy do not meet international standards. Tosolve this problem, it is necessary to develop national standardized QA itemsand procedures for linear accelerators.