Quality assurance of positron emission tomography/computed tomography for radiation therapy

Recent advances in radiation delivery techniques, such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy, provide unprecedented ability to exquisitely control three-dimensional dose distribution. Development of on-board imaging and other image-guidance methods significantly improved our ability to better target a radiation beam to the tumor volume. However, in reality, accurate definition of the location and boundary of the tumor target is still problematic. Biologic and physiologic imaging promises to solve the problem in a fundamental way and has a more and more important role in patient staging, treatment planning, and therapeutic assessment in radiation therapy clinics. The last decade witnessed a dramatic increase in the use of positron emission tomography and computed tomography in radiotherapy practice. To ensure safe and effective use of nuclide imaging, a rigorous quality assurance (QA) protocol of the imaging tools and integration of the imaging data must be in place. The application of nuclide imaging in radiation oncology occurs at different levels of sophistication. Quantitative use of the imaging data in treatment planning through image registration and standardized uptake value calculation is often involved. Thus, QA should not be limited to the performance of the scanner, but should also include the process of implementing image data in treatment planning, such as data transfer, image registration, and quantitation of data for delineation of tumors and sensitive structures. This presentation discusses various aspects of nuclide imaging as applied to radiotherapy and describes the QA procedures necessary for the success of biologic image-guided radiation therapy.