Quality control of medical linear accelerators: current practice and minimum requirements

This report should be revised before 2020

A questionnaire on QC procedures of medical linear accelerators was completed by all (21) radiotherapy institutions in The Netherlands with items related to safety systems, mechanical parameters, radiation protection, beam profiles, beam energy, absolute dosimetry, wedge filters, the dose monitor system and leakage radiation. Large variations in time spent on QC exist, especially for dual energy photon accelerators with several electron beam energies. This diversity is mainly due to differences in philosophy with regard to QC and the differences in resources and machine time available. Large variations in test frequencies and test methodologies have been observed. The data of the questionnaire were compared with recommendations given in national and international reports on QC of linear accelerators. From these recommendations and from the results of the questionnaire, a set of minimum guidelines for a QC programme has been established which is recommended for routine clinical practice.

https://doi.org/10.25030/ncs-009