An investigation of the basic situation of radiotherapy in mainland China in 2015

Abstract

Objective To conduct the 7th investigation by Chinese Society of Radiation Oncology, Chinese Medical Association, and to further investigate the current situation of radiotherapy in mainland China, reasonably allocate personnel and equipment resources, and promote the development of radiotherapy in China. Methods From October 8, 2015 to December 2015, the office for investigation of radiotherapy information was established, the list and contact information of radiotherapy units were provided by each province, and a special data submission system was used for a complete, rapid, and efficient investigation through the Internet. Results As of January 20, 2016, there were 1413 radiotherapy units in the mainland China with 52, 496 employees in total, among which there were 15 839 radiotherapy physicians (4824 with senior professional titles), 8452 technical therapists (260 with senior professional titles), 3292 physicists (562 with senior professional titles), and 938 maintenance engineers (120 with senior professional titles). In the aspect of radiotherapy equipment, there were 1930 linear accelerators, 96 Co-60 teletherapy units, 173 X-knife units, 212 γ-knife units, 382 Ir-192 brachytherapy units, 436 Co-60 brachytherapy units, 1051 X-ray simulators, 1353 CT simulators, 642 MRI simulators, 978 sets of multileaf collimators, 1922 sets of treatment planning systems, and 974 sets of radiotherapy network systems. As for quality control devices, there were 1792 dosimeters, 2143 ionization chambers, 935 two-dimensional array dosimeters, 540 three-dimensional dosimetric verification systems, 596 three-dimensional water tanks, 844 anthropomorphic phantoms, and 1168 water equivalent phantoms. In the aspect of therapeutic situation, there were 102, 170 beds (including beds in departments of oncology in general hospitals), 76612 episodes per day, and 919339 episodes per year. Conclusions The results of this investigation show significant increases in radiotherapy units, personnel, and equipment in recent years in mainland China. The distribution of radiotherapy units and equipment and the structure of radiotherapy personnel are becoming more reasonable, but there are still some problems. In some regions, current radiotherapy equipment cannot meet the medical needs, and there is a lack of professional technical personnel. Key words: Radiotherapy; Radiotherapy units; Allocation of Radiotherapy; Radiotherapy personnel