Abstract
While ultrasound guided prostate brachytherapy has gained wide acceptance as a primary treatment tool for prostate cancer, quality assurance of the ultrasound guidance system has received very little attention. Task Group 128 of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine was created to address quality assurance requirements specific to transrectal ultrasound used for guidance of prostate brachytherapy. Accurate imaging guidance and dosimetry calculation depend upon the quality and accuracy of the ultrasound image. Therefore, a robust quality assurance program for the ultrasound system is essential. A brief review of prostate brachytherapy and ultrasound physics is provided, followed by a recommendation for elements to be included in a comprehensive test phantom. Specific test recommendations are presented, covering grayscale visibility, depth of penetration, axial and lateral resolution, distance measurement, area measurement, volume measurement, needle template/electronic grid alignment, and geometric consistency with the treatment planning computer.
Highlights
Ultrasound guided prostate brachytherapy has grown in importance as a valuable tool in the treatment of prostate cancer
The purpose of this document is to provide a set of instructions for quality control testing of an ultrasound system with a specific focus on those tests applicable to image guidance during a prostate implant procedure
While a brief introduction is provided below, readers unfamiliar with the prostate brachytherapy procedure are referred to the report of the American Association of Physicists in MedicineAAPM Task Group No 64.1 Further, those readers unfamiliar with ultrasound system quality control testing are referred to the report of AAPM Ultrasound Task Group No 1.2
Summary
Ultrasound guided prostate brachytherapy has grown in importance as a valuable tool in the treatment of prostate cancer. The purpose of this document is to provide a set of instructions for quality control testing of an ultrasound system with a specific focus on those tests applicable to image guidance during a prostate implant procedure. Optimal image quality is central to this With both preplan and real time planning, it must be possible to insert the needle and seeds within the prostate at the appropriate grid locations, meaning that the electronic grid of the scanner must correspond to the physical grid in the OR. This phantom is manufactured of Zerdine®, a tissue mimicking material having a sound speed of 1540 m / s In these images, the test objects discussed below are indicated along with relevant dimensions. Several are in the design process, but no production date has been given
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