# Standardization of radiation therapy quality control system through mutual quality control based on failure mode and effects analysis

## TL;DR

This paper proposes a standardized quality control system for radiation therapy using mutual checks and FMEA to reduce risks and improve consistency across institutions.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is introducing cost-effectiveness into FMEA for evaluating mutual quality control in radiation therapy.

## Key findings

- Mutual quality control using FMEA reduced potential risks in radiation therapy institutions.
- Incorporating cost-effectiveness improved the evaluation of quality control utility.
- The method promotes standardization and risk reduction across different institutions.

## Abstract

The advancement of irradiation technology has increased the demand for quality control of radiation therapy equipment. Consequently, the number of quality control items and required personnel have also increased. However, differences in the proportion of qualified personnel to irradiation techniques have caused bias in quality control systems among institutions. To standardize the quality across institutions, researchers should conduct mutual quality control by analyzing the quality control data of one institution at another institution and comparing the results with those of their own institutions. This study uses failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) to identify potential risks in 12 radiation therapy institutions, compares the results before and after implementation of mutual quality control, and examines the utility of mutual quality control in risk reduction. Furthermore, a cost-effectiveness factor is introduced into FMEA to evaluate the utility of mutual quality control.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12194-024-00857-z.