Verification of Head and Neck External Beam Irradiation in Radiotherapy

Progress in the management of cancer in the head and neck region depends to a great extent on the results from surgery or radiotherapy or a combination of both techniques.The successful outcome of these treatment modalities,however,will be largely determined by the precise choice of indications and judicious selection of the patients to be treated based on the nature of the lesion, its local extension and the stage of the tumor.Treatment verification is an important component of radiotherapy. Radiotherapy verification is the process that enables us to be certain we are treating the tumor as planned. In ensuring that the right radiation dose has been given to the right place,to assess the suitability of the size of the margins planned around the clinical target volume that allow for the uncertainties in the radiotherapy process,two measures are needed geometric and dosemetric verification. In this study,measures of geometric verification were done to ensure that.This document describes and recommends the best evidence-based practices for geometric treatment verification.It also provides guidelines as to how individual centers may implement geometric verification processes locally.