Quality assurance of the EORTC trial 22911. A phase III study of post-operative external radiotherapy in pathological stage T3N0 prostatic carcinoma: the dummy run.
BACKGROUND
A dry run of a clinical trial (EORTC 22911) is presented in which 12 centres have participated. These are the centres which have contributed the largest number of patients to the trial.


METHODS
Each participating centre received data from a suitable patient. Investigators were asked to plan and 'treat' the patient according to the protocol guidelines and return the data for evaluation of compliance.


RESULTS
The results show that compliance to the protocol guidelines was generally good. There were a few minor deviations in the dose and fractionation schedule, in the volume reduction for the booster dose and in the dose prescription point. None of these deviations will affect the outcome of the study. The most important observation is the large inter-centre variation in target volumes.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study underlines the need for a strict definition of the target volume and the adoption of the ICRU 50 recommendations in future protocols.
Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Zurich, Ramistrasse 100, 8091, Zurich, Switzerland.
J Bernard
JB
Davis
Béatrice
B
Reiner
Andrée
A
Dusserre
Jean-Yves
JY
Giraud
Michel
M
Bolla
D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic / Q000592:standards; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D011786:Quality Control; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011882:Radiotherapy, High-Energy / Q000592:standards