• Title/Summary/Keyword: Quality Assurance

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Privilege and Immunity of Information and Data from Aviation Safety Program in Unites States (미국 항공안전데이터 프로그램의 비공개 특권과 제재 면제에 관한 연구)

  • Moon, Joon-Jo
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • v.23 no.2
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    • pp.137-172
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    • 2008
  • The earliest safety data programs, the FDR and CVR, were electronic reporting systems that generate data "automatically." The FDR program, originally instituted in 1958, had no publicly available restrictions for protections against sanctions by the FAA or an airline, although there are agreements and union contracts forbidding the use of FDR data for FAA enforcement actions. This FDR program still has the least formalized protections. With the advent of the CVR program in 1966, the precursor to the current FAR 91.25 was already in place, having been promulgated in 1964. It stated that the FAA would not use CVR data for enforcement actions. In 1982, Congress began restricting the disclosure of the CVR tape and transcripts. Congress added further clarification of the availability of discovery in civil litigation in 1994. Thus, the CVR data have more definitive protections in place than do FDR data. The ASRS was the first non-automatic reporting system; and built into its original design in 1975 was a promise of limited protection from enforcement sanctions. That promise was further codified in an FAR in 1979. As with the CVR, from its inception, the ASRS had some protections built in for the person who might have had a safety problem. However, the program did not (and to this day does not) explicitly deal with issues of use by airlines, litigants, or the public media, although it appears that airlines will either take a non-punitive stance if an ASRS report is filed, or the airline may ignore the fact that it has been filed at all. The FAA worked with several U.S. airlines in the early 1990s on developing ASAP programs, and the FAA issued an Advisory Circular about the program in 1997. From its inception, the ASAP program contained some FAA enforcement protections and company discipline protections, although some protection against litigation disclosure and public disclosure was not added until 2003, when FAA Order 8000.82 was promulgated, placing the program under the protections of FAR 193, which had been added in 2001. The FOQA program, when it was first instituted through a demonstration program in 1995, did not contain protections against sanctions. Now, however, the FAA cannot take enforcement action based on FOQA safety data, and an airline is limited to "corrective action" under the program. Union contracts can exclude FOQA from the realm of disciplinary action, although airline practice may be for airlines to require retraining if there is no contract in place forbidding it. The data is protected against disclosure for litigation and public media purposes by FAA Order 8000.81, issued in 2003, which placed FOQA under the protections of FAR 193. The figure on the next page shows when each program began, and when each statute, regulation, or order became effective for that program.

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Application of Off-axis Correction Method for EPID Based IMRT QA (EPID를 사용한 세기조절방사선치료의 정도관리에 있어 축이탈 보정(Off-axis Correction)의 적용)

  • Cho, Ilsung;Kwark, Jungwon;Park, Sung Ho;Ahn, Seung Do;Jeong, Dong Hyeok;Cho, Byungchul
    • Progress in Medical Physics
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.317-325
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    • 2012
  • The Varian PORTALVISION (Varian Medical Systems, US) shows significant overresponses as the off-center distance increases compared to the predicted dose. In order to correct the dose discrepancy, the off-axis correction is applied to VARIAN iX linear accelerators. The portal dose for $38{\times}28cm^2$ open field is acquired for 6 MV, 15 MV photon beams and also are predicted by PDIP algorithm under the same condition of the portal dose acquisition. The off-axis correction is applied by modifying the $40{\times}40cm^2$ diagonal beam profile data which is used for the beam profile calibration. The ratios between predicted dose and measured dose is modeled as a function of off-axis distance with the $4^{th}$ polynomial and is applied to the $40{\times}40cm^2$ diagonal beam profile data as the weight to correct measured dose by EPID detector. The discrepancy between measured dose and predicted dose is reduced from $4.17{\pm}2.76$ CU to $0.18{\pm}0.8$ CU for 6 MV photon beam and from $3.23{\pm}2.59$ CU to $0.04{\pm}0.85$ CU for 15 MV photon beam. The passing rate of gamma analysis for the pyramid fluence patten with the 4%, 4 mm criteria is improved from 98.7% to 99.1% for 6 MV photon beam, from 99.8% to 99.9% for 15 MV photon beam. IMRT QA is also performed for randomly selected Head and Neck and Prostate IMRT plans after applying the off-axis correction. The gamma passing rare is improved by 3% on average, for Head and Neck cases: $94.7{\pm}3.2%$ to $98.2{\pm}1.4%$, for Prostate cases: $95.5{\pm}2.6%$, $98.4{\pm}1.8%$. The gamma analysis criteria is 3%, 3 mm with 10% threshold. It is considered that the off-axis correction might be an effective and easily adaptable means for correcting the discrepancy between measured dose and predicted dose for IMRT QA using EPID in clinic.

Development of Quality Assurance Software for $PRESAGE^{REU}$ Gel Dosimetry ($PRESAGE^{REU}$ 겔 선량계의 분석 및 정도 관리 도구 개발)

  • Cho, Woong;Lee, Jaegi;Kim, Hyun Suk;Wu, Hong-Gyun
    • Progress in Medical Physics
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    • v.25 no.4
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    • pp.233-241
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    • 2014
  • The aim of this study is to develop a new software tool for 3D dose verification using $PRESAGE^{REU}$ Gel dosimeter. The tool included following functions: importing 3D doses from treatment planning systems (TPS), importing 3D optical density (OD), converting ODs to doses, 3D registration between two volumetric data by translational and rotational transformations, and evaluation with 3D gamma index. To acquire correlation between ODs and doses, CT images of a $PRESAGE^{REU}$ Gel with cylindrical shape was acquired, and a volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plan was designed to give radiation doses from 1 Gy to 6 Gy to six disk-shaped virtual targets along z-axis. After the VMAT plan was delivered to the targets, 3D OD data were reconstructed from 512 projection data from $Vista^{TM}$ optical CT scanner (Modus Medical Devices Inc, Canada) per every 2 hours after irradiation. A curve for converting ODs to doses was derived by comparing TPS dose profile to OD profile along z-axis, and the 3D OD data were converted to the absorbed doses using the curve. Supra-linearity was observed between doses and ODs, and the ODs were decayed about 60% per 24 hours depending on their magnitudes. Measured doses from the $PRESAGE^{REU}$ Gel were well agreed with the TPS doses at central region, but large under-doses were observed at peripheral region at the cylindrical geometry. Gamma passing rate for 3D doses was 70.36% under the gamma criteria of 3% of dose difference and 3 mm of distance to agreement. The low passing rate was resulted from the mismatching of the refractive index between the PRESAGE gel and oil bath in the optical CT scanner. In conclusion, the developed software was useful for 3D dose verification from PRESAGE gel dosimetry, but further improvement of the Gel dosimetry system were required.

Radiotherapy Incidents Analysis Based on ROSIS: Tendency and Frequency (ROSIS 자료 기반 방사선 사고 사례 분석 : 경향과 빈도)

  • Koo, Jihye;Yoon, MyongGeun;Chung, Won Kuu;Kim, Dong Wook
    • Progress in Medical Physics
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    • v.25 no.4
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    • pp.298-303
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    • 2014
  • In this study, we examine the trends and types of incidents frequently occur during radiation therapy by using the data from the radiation oncology safety information system (ROSIS), according to discovery method explores the development direction of future research accident cause factor control method. This study was carried out analysis of incident data in ROSIS nearly 1163 cases in last 11 years from 2003 to 2013. We categorized into treatment methods, found the time, discoverer of occupations and finding ways to analyze the data. Then, we calculate the percentage and the classification for each item. About 1163 cases of incident cases including the near miss cases, external radiation therapy, brachytherapy and other were 97%, 2% and 1%. In the case was improperly planned dose delivery was 44% (497 cases) which 429 cases (86%) was found before 3 fractions and 13 cases were found after 11 fractions. The investigation was found to be distributed in various a found times. Approximately 42% of found time was during treatment and 29% of patients were found the problem during inspection chart. Occupation to discover the most radiation accidents was the radiation therapist (53%) who works in treatment room. Among 1163 incidence cases, 24% cases were found the accident before the treatment, therefore most of accident were found after of during the treatment (70%, 813 cases). This trend is acquired through ROSIS analysis, is expected to be not significantly different in the case of Korea, so it is necessary more diverse and systematic research for the prevention and early detection by using the ROSIS data.

Classification of submitted KSNMT dissertation (대한핵의학기술학회 투고 논문 분류)

  • Han, Dong-Chan;Lee, Hyuk;Hong, Gun-Chul;Ahn, Byeong-Ho;Choi, Seong-Wook
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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    • v.21 no.1
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    • pp.65-69
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    • 2017
  • Purpose KSNMT(Korea Society of Nuclear Medicine Technology) stepping first step in 1997, has published first journal related with nuclear medicine technology in 1985. With classifying In Vivo Session Dissertation reported in the entire journal, trend of the Dissertation will be studied. Materials and Methods Dissertations which published from 1985 to first half of 2016 in the journal are classified with presentation form and with scanner, And all the data is organized with Excel program. Through the data, the number of dissertations published in each year, the number of dissertation published in details, and keyword distributions in each period are analyzed. Results The number of In-vivo section dissertations was 1151 and the number of In-vivo section dissertations that have common subject with In-vitro section was 28. The number of In-vivo section dissertation in 1980s was 46, in 1990s was 149, in 2000 was 467 and from 2010 to the first half of 2016 was 517. The number of dissertation with original articles was 571, with abstract was 529, with symposium was 31, with special lecture was 25, with review was 11, with interesting image was 7, with poster was 3 and with case report was 2. With symposium and special lecture excluded, which count 56, the number of dissertation with PET was 319, with Planar was 302, with SPECT was 172, with radiopharmaceutical was 113, with guard and safety management 103, with BMD was 28, etc. was 86. The number of dissertation about oncology was 201, about scanner was 179, about cardiovascular and circulatory system was 102, about safe environment was 82, about musculoskeletal system was 76, about nervous nuclear medicine was 66, about quality assurance was 61, about genitourinary system was 56, about endocrine system was 49, about digestive system was 44, about Therapy, about industrial safety was 24, about molecular imaging was 15, infection and inflammation was 9, about respiratory system was 8 and etc. was 108. The mostly used keyword through 1999 to 2005 was PET and through 2006 to 2016 was PET/CT. Conclusion To encourage various dissertations to be submitted, Korea Society of Nuclear Medicine should analyze date about not only about dissertations that are already published, but also about various research materials. Moreover, Korea Society of Nuclear Medicine also have to provide technical support such as sharing big data from homepage and systematical support to its member to publish dissertation that has high impact factor. It is important each individual researcher to have continuing effort as well as each organization cooperation.

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The Study on the Effect of Target Volume in DQA based on MLC log file (MLC 로그 파일 기반 DQA에서 타깃 용적에 따른 영향 연구)

  • Shin, Dong Jin;Jung, Dong Min;Cho, Kang Chul;Kim, Ji Hoon;Yoon, Jong Won;Cho, Jeong Hee
    • The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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    • v.32
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    • pp.53-59
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    • 2020
  • Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the difference between the MLC log file-based software (Mobius) and the conventional phantom-ionization chamber (ArcCheck) dose verification method according to the change of target volume. Material and method: Radius 0.25cm, 0.5cm, 1cm, 2cm, 3cm, 4cm, 5cm, 6cm, 7cm, 8cm, 9cm, 10cm with a Sphere-shaped target Twelve plans were created and dose verification using Mobius and ArcCheck was conducted three times each. The irradiated data were compared and analyzed using the point dose error value and the gamma passing rate (3%/3mm) as evaluation indicators. Result: Mobius point dose error values were -9.87% at a radius of 0.25cm and -4.39% at 0.5cm, and the error value was within 3% at the remaining target volume. The gamma passing rate was 95% at a radius of 9cm and 93.9% at 10cm, and a passing rate of more than 95% was shown in the remaining target volume. In ArcCheck, the average error value of the point dose was about 2% in all target volumes. The gamma passing rate also showed a pass rate of 98% or more in all target volumes. Conclusion: For small targets with a radius of 0.5cm or less or a large target with a radius of 9cm or more, considering the uncertainty of DQA based on MLC log files, phantom-ionized DQA is used in complementary ways to include point dose, gamma index, DVH, and target coverage. It is believed that it is desirable to verify the dose delivery through a comprehensive analysis.

Trends in QA/QC of Phytoplankton Data for Marine Ecosystem Monitoring (해양생태계 모니터링을 위한 식물플랑크톤 자료의 정도 관리 동향)

  • YIH, WONHO;PARK, JONG WOO;SEONG, KYEONG AH;PARK, JONG-GYU;YOO, YEONG DU;KIM, HYUNG SEOP
    • The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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    • v.26 no.3
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    • pp.220-237
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    • 2021
  • Since the functional importance of marine phytoplankton was firstly advocated from early 1880s massive data on the species composition and abundance were produced by classical microscopic observation and the advanced auto-imaging technologies. Recently, pigment composition resulted from direct chemical analysis of phytoplankton samples or indirect remote sensing could be used for the group-specific quantification, which leads us to more diversified data production methods and for more improved spatiotemporal accessibilities to the target data-gathering points. In quite a few cases of many long-term marine ecosystem monitoring programs the phytoplankton species composition and abundance was included as a basic monitoring item. The phytoplankton data could be utilized as a crucial evidence for the long-term change in phytoplankton community structure and ecological functioning at the monitoring stations. Usability of the phytoplankton data sometimes is restricted by the differences in data producers throughout the whole monitoring period. Methods for sample treatments, analyses, and species identification of the phytoplankton species could be inconsistent among the different data producers and the monitoring years. In-depth study to determine the precise quantitative values of the phytoplankton species composition and abundance might be begun by Victor Hensen in late 1880s. International discussion on the quality assurance of the marine phytoplankton data began in 1969 by the SCOR Working Group 33 of ICSU. Final report of the Working group in 1974 (UNESCO Technical Papers in Marine Science 18) was later revised and published as the UNESCO Monographs on oceanographic methodology 6. The BEQUALM project, the former body of IPI (International Phytoplankton Intercomparison) for marine phytoplankton data QA/QC under ISO standard, was initiated in late 1990. The IPI is promoting international collaboration for all the participating countries to apply the QA/QC standard established from the 20 years long experience and practices. In Korea, however, such a QA/QC standard for marine phytoplankton species composition and abundance data is not well established by law, whereas that for marine chemical data from measurements and analysis has been already set up and managed. The first priority might be to establish a QA/QC standard system for species composition and abundance data of marine phytoplankton, then to be extended to other functional groups at the higher consumer level of marine food webs.

Comparative and Feasibility Evaluation of Detection Ability of Relative Dosimeters using CsPbI2Br and CsPbIBr2 Materials in Brachytherapy QA (근접방사선치료 QA에서 CsPbI2Br과 CsPbIBr2를 이용한 상대 선량계들의 검출 능력 비교 및 적용가능성 평가)

  • Seung-Woo Yang;Sung-Kwang Park
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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    • v.17 no.3
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    • pp.433-440
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    • 2023
  • High dose rate brachytherapy is a cancer treatment that intensively irradiates radiation to tumors by inserting isotopes with high dose rates into the body. For such a treatment, it is necessary to deliver an accurate dose to the tumor tissue through an accurate treatment plan while delivering only a minimum dose to the normal tissue. Therefore, it is very important to check the location accuracy of the source through accurate Quality Assurance (QA) in clinical practice. However, since the source position is determined using a ruler, automatic radiographer, video monitor, etc. in clinical practice, it yields inaccurate results. In this study, a semiconductor dosimeter using CsPbI2Br and CsPbIBr2 was fabricated. And, in order to analyze whether it is more suitable for the relative QA dosimeter for brachytherapy device among the two materials, the radiation detection ability of each was compared and evaluated. In order to evaluate the radiation detection ability in brachytherapy, the reproducibility and linearity of the two materials were evaluated in 192IR. In the reproducibility evaluation, CsPbI2Br presented a Relative Standard Deviatio(RSD) of 0.98% and CsPbIBr2 presented an RSD of 3.45%. In the linearity evaluation, the coefficient of determination (R2) of CsPbI2Br was presented as 0.9998, and the R2 of CsPbIBr2 was presented as 0.9994. As a result of the evaluation, it was found that CsPbI2Br was more stable in radiation detection while satisfying the evaluation criteria in the dosimeter manufactured in this experiment. Therefore, CsPbI2Br material is suitable for application as a relative dosimeter for radiation detection in brachytherapy devices.

The Actual State and the Utilization for Dental Radiography in Korea (국내 치과방사선의 현황 및 이용 실태)

  • Shin, Gwi-Soon;Kim, You-Hyun;Lee, Bo-Ram;Kim, Se-Young;Lee, Gui-Won;Park, Chang-Seo;Park, Hyok;Chang, Kye-Yong
    • Journal of radiological science and technology
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    • v.33 no.2
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    • pp.109-120
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    • 2010
  • The purpose of this study was first to analyze the utilization of dental examination through questionnaire to develop a diagnostic reference level of patient doses for dental radiography in korea. 77 dental institutions were classified into three groups: A group for the dental hospitals of the college of dentistry (11 institutions), B group for dental hospitals (30 institutions) and C group for dental clinics (36 institutions). The results were as follows : The mean numbers of unit chairs and medical staffs were 140.2, 15.3 and 5.8 sets, 112.6, 7.3 and 1.7 dentists, 3.1, 0.5 and no one radiologic technologists, and 19.7, 12.5 and 3.3 dental hygienists in A, B and C groups, respectively. The mean numbers of dental X-ray equipments were 14.64, 3.21 and 2.19 in A, B and C groups, respectively. Intraoral dental X-ray unit was used the most, the following equipments were panoramic, cephalometric, and cone-beam CT units. The most used X-ray imaging system was also digital system (above 50%) in all three groups. Insight dental film (Kodak, USA) having high sensitivity was routinely used for periapical radiography. The automatic processor was not used in many dental institutions, but the film-holding device was used in many dental institutions. The utilization rates of PACS in A, B and C groups were 90.9%, 83.3% and 16.7% respectively, and the PACS software program was used the most PiView STAR (Infinitt, Korea). The annual mean number of radiographic cases in one dental institution in 2008 for A group was 6.8 times and 21.2 times more than those for B and C groups, and periapical and panoramic radiographs were taken mostly. Tube voltage (kVp) and tube current (mA) for periapical radiography were similar in all three groups, but exposure time in C group was 12.0 times and 3.5 times longer than those in B and C groups. The amount of radiation exposure in C group, in which dental hygienists take dental radiographs, was more than those in other groups. The exposure parameters for panoramic radiography were similar in all three groups. In conclusion, the exposure parameters in dental radiography should be determined with reference level, not past experiences. Use of automatic processor and film-holding devices reduces the radiation exposure in film system. The quality assurance of dental equipments are necessary for the reduction of the patient dose and the improvement of X-ray image quality.

Comparison and evaluation of volumetric modulated arc therapy and intensity modulated radiation therapy plans for postoperative radiation therapy of prostate cancer patient using a rectal balloon (직장풍선을 삽입한 전립선암 환자의 수술 후 방사선 치료 시 용적변조와 세기변조방사선치료계획 비교 평가)

  • Jung, hae youn;Seok, jin yong;Hong, joo wan;Chang, nam jun;Choi, byeong don;Park, jin hong
    • The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.45-52
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    • 2015
  • Purpose : The dose distribution of organ at risk (OAR) and normal tissue is affected by treatment technique in postoperative radiation therapy for prostate cancer. The aim of this study was to compare dose distribution characteristic and to evaluate treatment efficiency by devising VMAT plans according to applying differed number of arc and IMRT plan for postoperative patient of prostate cancer radiation therapy using a rectal balloon. Materials and Methods : Ten patients who received postoperative prostate radiation therapy in our hospital were compared. CT images of patients who inserted rectal balloon were acquired with 3 mm thickness and 10 MV energy of HD120MLC equipped Truebeam STx (Varian, Palo Alto, USA) was applied by using Eclipse (Version 11.0, Varian, Palo Alto, USA). 1 Arc, 2 Arc VMAT plans and 7-field IMRT plan were devised for each patient and same values were applied for dose volume constraint and plan normalization. To evaluate these plans, PTV coverage, conformity index (CI) and homogeneity index (HI) were compared and $R_{50%}$ was calculated to assess low dose spillage as per treatment plan. $D_{25%}$ of rectum and bladder Dmean were compared on OAR. And to evaluate the treatment efficiency, total monitor units(MU) and delivery time were considered. Each assessed result was analyzed by average value of 10 patients. Additionally, portal dosimetry was carried out for accuracy verification of beam delivery. Results : There was no significant difference on PTV coverage and HI among 3 plans. Especially CI and $R_{50%}$ on 7F-IMRT were the highest as 1.230, 3.991 respectively(p=0.00). Rectum $D_{25%}$ was similar between 1A-VMAT and 2A-VMAT. But approximately 7% higher value was observed on 7F-IMRT compare to the others(p=0.02) and bladder Dmean were similar among the all plan(P>0.05). Total MU were 494.7, 479.7, 757.9 respectively(P=0.00) for 1A-VMAT, 2A-VMAT, 7F-IMRT and at the most on 7F-IMRT. The delivery time were 65.2sec, 133.1sec, 145.5sec respectively(p=0.00). The obvious shortest time was observed on 1A-VMAT. All plans indicated over 99.5%(p=0.00) of gamma pass rate (2 mm, 2%) in portal dosimetry quality assurance. Conclusion : As a result of study, postoperative prostate cancer radiation therapy for patient using a rectal balloon, there was no significant difference of PTV coverage but 1A-VMAT and 2A-VMAT were more efficient for dose reduction of normal tissue and OARs. Between VMAT plans. $R_{50%}$ and MU were little lower in 2A-VMAT but 1A-VMAT has the shortest delivery time. So it is regarded to be an effective plan and it can reduce intra-fractional motion of patient also.

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