ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the use of electromagnetic tracking technology in quality assurance (QA) of brachytherapy implantations, plans, and treatments. It discusses how electronic medical record (EMR) initiative, can be used to design tools and software that mine patient-specific and clinic-specific information to automate and enhance some aspects of QA. New technologies may enter the clinic to improve treatments but may exceed the capabilities of existing QA paradigms. An example is the introduction of multi-leaf collimator technologies in external beam radiotherapy, which resulted eventually in the widespread adoption of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Technological changes in clinical practice provide the means to facilitate and expand QA practice. Deformable phantoms are used instead for both commissioning and QA. Physical deformable phantoms aim at providing the ground truth while not affecting the deformable registration algorithm. Commissioning of the image registration algorithm and QA upon software upgrades need to evaluate results in digital phantoms.
