The Royal College of Radiologists' audit of prostate brachytherapy in the year 2012.
OBJECTIVE
This audit provides a comprehensive overview of UK prostate brachytherapy practice in the year 2012, measured against existing standards, immediately before the introduction of new Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) guidelines. This audit allows comparison with European and North American brachytherapy practice and for the impact of the RCR 2012 guidelines to be assessed in the future.


METHODS
A web-based data collection tool was developed by the RCR Clinical Audit Committee and sent to audit leads at all cancer centres in the UK. Standards were developed based on available guidelines in use at the start of 2012 covering case mix and dosimetry. Further questions were included to reflect areas of anticipated change with the implementation of the 2012 guidelines. Audit findings were compared with similar audits of practice in Europe, the USA and Latin America.


RESULTS
Forty-nine of 59 cancer centres submitted data. Twenty-nine centres reported carrying out prostate brachytherapy; of these, 25 (86%) provided data regarding the number of implants, staffing, dosimetry, medication and anaesthesia and follow-up. Audit standards achieved excellent compliance in most areas, although were low in post-implant dosimetry and in post-implant scanning at 30 days.


CONCLUSIONS
This audit provides a comprehensive picture of prostate brachytherapy in the UK in 2012. Patterns of care of prostate brachytherapy are similar to practice in the USA and Europe. The number of prostate brachytherapy implants carried out in the UK has grown significantly since a previous RCR audit in 2005 and it is important that centres maintain minimum numbers of cases to ensure that experience can be maintained and compliance to guidelines achieved.
St Luke's Cancer Centre, Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford, UK; University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. Electronic address: Alexandra.stewart@nhs.net.
A J
AJ
Stewart
The Royal College of Radiologists, London, UK.
K J
KJ
Drinkwater
St Luke's Cancer Centre, Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford, UK.
R W
RW
Laing
Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, Norwich, UK.
J P
JP
Nobes
Royal Marsden Hospital, London, UK.
I
I
Locke
D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D011871:Radiology; D011874:Radiometry; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D013997:Time Factors; D006113:United Kingdom
Clinical audit; HDR brachytherapy; Royal College of Radiologists; patterns of care; prostate cancer; vLDR brachytherapy