Practices of radiotherapy equipment quality control in radiotherapy centres in Croatia

From the prescription to the delivery of a radiotherapy treatment, a team of professionals from a number of disciplines is involved. In this way significant potential for errors leading to an accidental exposure becomes apparent. Comprehensive quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program to minimize such errors is, therefore, required. One aspect of QA/QC program is quality control of the equipment. In this paper we present experiences in establishing QC procedures in our centers. Also differences in QC practices in Croatian radiotherapy centers are reviewed in the light of recommendations given by international reports and publications. To obtain insight into the current employed protocols a questionnaire based on our QC protocols was made and it was sent to all radiotherapy institutions in Croatia. QC procedures and tools used, professionals involved, performance frequencies of the tests and tolerance/action levels are compared. All centers perform the great majority of QC tests, but some variations in the performance frequencies of QC tests and in personnel responsible for performing particular tests are found. Reviewing of QC practices and exchanging experience could help in evolving uniform protocol for QC procedures at national level.