title: The NCS code of practice for the quality assurance and control for volumetric modulated arc therapy.
abstract: In 2010, the NCS (Netherlands Commission on Radiation Dosimetry) installed a subcommittee to develop guidelines for quality assurance and control for volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) treatments. The report (published in 2015) has been written by Dutch medical physicists and has therefore, inevitably, a Dutch focus. This paper is a condensed version of these guidelines, the full report in English is freely available from the NCS website www.radiationdosimetry.org. After describing the transition from IMRT to VMAT, the paper addresses machine quality assurance (QA) and treatment planning system (TPS) commissioning for VMAT. The final section discusses patient specific QA issues such as the use of class solutions, measurement devices and dose evaluation methods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mans
authors.forename: Danny
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schuring
authors.forename: Mark P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Arends
authors.forename: Cornelia A J M
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Vugts
authors.forename: Jochem W H
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Wolthaus
authors.forename: Heidi T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Lotz
authors.forename: Marjan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Admiraal
authors.forename: Rob J W
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Louwe
authors.forename: Michel C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Öllers
authors.forename: Jeroen B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: van de Kamer
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D050397:Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*