Quality assurance in radiation oncology in the United States.

We review the various components of quality assurance (QA), including the role of a QA committee, stressing its interdisciplinary nature relative to radiation oncologists, medical physicists, dosimetrists, and radiation therapy technologists. Current standard of QA are reviewed for treatment machines, dosimetry instrumentation, treatment planning, treatment planning computer systems, brachytherapy, and external beam therapy. The latter area includes discussions on the importance of a peer review new patient planning conference, chart checking and film review.