Multi-institutional questionnaire-based survey on online adaptive radiotherapy performed using commercial systems in Japan in 2023.

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to conduct a survey on the current clinical practice of, staffing for, commissioning of, and staff training for online adaptive radiotherapy (oART) in the institutions that installed commercial oART systems in Japan, and to share the information with institutions that will implement oART systems in future. A web-based questionnaire, containing 107 questions, was distributed to nine institutions in Japan. Data were collected from November to December 2023. Three institutions each with the MRIdian (ViewRay, Oakwood Village, OH, USA), Unity (Elekta AB, Stockholm, Sweden), and Ethos (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, USA) systems completed the questionnaire. One institution (MRIdian) had not performed oART by the response deadline. Each institution had installed only one oART system. Hypofractionation, and moderate hypofractionation or conventional fractionation were employed in the MRIdian/Unity and Ethos systems, respectively. The elapsed time for the oART process was faster with the Ethos than with the other systems. All institutions added additional staff for oART. Commissioning periods differed among the oART systems owing to provision of beam data from the vendors. Chambers used during commissioning measurements differed among the institutions. Institutional training was provided by all nine institutions. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first survey about oART performed using commercial systems in Japan. We believe that this study will provide useful information to institutions that installed, are installing, or are planning to install oART systems.