Assessment of using a gamma index analysis for patient‐specific quality assurance in Japan

PURPOSE: The Task Group 218 (TG‐218) report was published by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine in 2018, recommending the appropriate use of gamma index analysis for patient‐specific quality assurance (PSQA). The paper demonstrates that PSQA for radiotherapy in Japan appropriately applies the gamma index analysis considering TG‐218. MATERIALS/METHODS: This survey estimated the acceptance state of radiotherapeutic institutes or facilities in Japan for the guideline using a web‐based questionnaire. To investigate an appropriate PSQA of the facility‐specific conditions, we researched an optimal tolerance or action level for various clinical situations, including different treatment machines, clinical policies, measurement devices, staff or their skills, and patient conditions. The responded data were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and multidimensional scaling (MDS). The PCA focused on factor loading values of the first contribution over 0.5, whereas the MDS focused on mapped distances among data. RESULTS: Responses were obtained from 148 facilities that use intensity‐modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), which accounted for 42.8% of the probable IMRT use in Japan. This survey revealed the appropriate application of the following universal criteria for gamma index analysis from the guideline recommendation despite the facility‐specific variations (treatment machines/the number of IMRT cases/facility attributes/responded [representative] expertise or staff): (a) 95% pass rate, (b) 3% dose difference and 2‐mm distance‐to‐agreement, and (c) 10% threshold dose. Conditions (a)–(c) were the principal components of the data by the PCA method and were mapped in a similar distance range, which was easily clustered from other gamma index analytic factors by the MDS method. Conditions (a)–(c) were the universally essential factors for the PSQA in Japan. CONCLUSION: We found that the majority of facilities using IMRT in each region of Japan complied with the guideline and conducted PSQA with deliberation under the individual facility‐specific conditions.