Abstract
Performing a procedure on the wrong patient or site is one of the greatest errors that can occur in medicine. The addition of automation has been shown to reduce errors in many processes. In this work we explore the use of an automated patient identification process using optical surface imaging for radiotherapy treatments. Surface imaging uses visible light to align the patient to a reference surface in the treatment room. It is possible to evaluate the similarity between a daily set‐up surface image and the reference image using distance to agreement between the points on the two surfaces. The higher the percentage overlapping points within a defined distance, the more similar the surfaces. This similarity metric was used to intercompare 16 left‐sided breast patients. The reference surface for each patient was compared to 10 daily treatment surfaces for the same patient, and 10 surfaces from each of the other 15 patients (for a total of 160 comparisons per patient), looking at the percent of points overlapping. For each patient, the minimum same‐patient similarity score was higher than the maximum different‐patient score. For the group as a whole a threshold was able to classify correct and incorrect patients with high levels of accuracy. A 10‐fold cross‐validation using linear discriminant analysis gave cross‐validation loss of 0.0074. An automated process using surface imaging is a feasible option to provide nonharmful daily patient identification verification using currently available technology.PACS number(s): 87.53.Jw, 87.55.N‐, 87.55.Qr, 87.57.N‐, 87.63.L‐
Highlights
272 Wiant et al.: Surface imaging patient ID in the treatment room for breast patient “Jones,” while a second group opens the patient plan at the treatment control area outside the room for a different breast patient “Jones.” If the patient plan and identity are not carefully checked again prior to treatment a gross error would occur
In the treatment room for breast patient “Jones,” while a second group opens the patient plan at the treatment control area outside the room for a different breast patient “Jones.” If the patient plan and identity are not carefully checked again prior to treatment a gross error would occur. Scenarios like this are not impossible, as the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority showed that 16% (n = 4) of radiation therapy events reported from June 2004 through January 2009 were related to the wrong patient being treated.[4]
One such technology is a radiofrequency identification (RFID) system that uses implantable MOSFET radiation detectors to record radiation dose and emit unique RF signatures that allows the readout system to identify the patient.[7]. Another commercial system requires the patient to wear a RFID tag that can be tracked by sensors in treatment rooms to determine if the correct patient is on the table, and can automatically interface with record and verify systems.[8]. These techniques offer the possibility for robust, automated hard stops in the treatment process, but they may be expensive and invasive
Summary
272 Wiant et al.: Surface imaging patient ID in the treatment room for breast patient “Jones,” while a second group opens the patient plan at the treatment control area outside the room for a different breast patient “Jones.” If the patient plan and identity are not carefully checked again prior to treatment a gross error would occur. Scenarios like this are not impossible, as the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority showed that 16% (n = 4) of radiation therapy events reported from June 2004 through January 2009 were related to the wrong patient being treated.[4]. These techniques offer the possibility for robust, automated hard stops in the treatment process, but they may be expensive and invasive
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